Percy Jackson and the Lone Hunter
by Khande
Summary: What if Percy Jackson takes a stand to Gabe early on? What if he learns of his abilities early on? The real question is whether the world is ready for him. Percy also have a brother. Feature Independent Percy Jackson. Percy X Artemis. WARNING: Contains Mature Language, Graphic Scenes, and SOME Really Cool Shit. This story is completely different than in Cannon but have alike plots.
1. Chapter 1

Percy Jackson and the Lone Hunter

Chapter One

Age 12

By: Khande

Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson series. Rick Riordan does.

A/N: Constructive Criticism Appreciated. If you have any suggestions leave a review.

Point of View: Percy Jackson

Being a demigod was a hard life. Especially if you were a child of one of the "Big Three". By "Big Three" I mean Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades. The 3 most powerful gods in Greek Mythology. You see, every demigod has a scent that attracts monsters and other beings. What makes my life so difficult is that I was born to Poseidon, God of the seas. This makes my scent even stronger, attracting even more monsters. But pretty soon you learn how to kick ass unless you don't, then you might as well be as dead as a rat who got ran over by an 18 wheeler.

Yes, it really is that bad. Luckily for me, I found out early on about my stature. It happened when I got home from my 4th school in just 4 years as it was the end of the semester and like usual, I was not invited back to attend next year. As I entered, I saw my step-dad playing poker with his poker buddies. I tried sneaking to my room without him noticing but that plan went down the drain.

"Hey kid. Give me some money!" He call out from the kitchen. I called him Smelly Gabe because he smells worse than if Skunk and Bombardier Beetle produced an offspring in a porta pooper. I don't know why my mother stayed with him. He treats her like shit, but she is the best mother anyone could ask for. There some occasions where I wanted to punch Smelly Gabe right in his ugly nose, but I knew if I did my mother would be very disappointed in me. So I tried to coexist.

"I don't have any." I responded.

"You took a taxi from the bus station," he said. "Probably paid with a twenty. Got six, seven bucks in change. Somebody expects to live under this roof, he ought to carry his own weight. Am I right, Eddie?"

Eddie, the super of the apartment building, looked at me with a twinge of sympathy, "Come on, Gabe," he said. "The kid just got here."

"Am I right?" Gabe repeated.

Normally I would just give him whatever he wanted and just leave him alone, but there something in my gut that told to not give him anything. So I listened.

"I said, I don't have anything dickhead. Now get lost." I said, somewhat bravely

Smelly Gabes' dumb face adopted the look of shock before it flickered to rage with his face turning a sickly purple shade.

"Now you listen here, you little brat. I pay for this roof over your head, and those clothes on your back. If I say do something you do it." He bellowed standing up.

"Yeah whatever." I said making my way to my room. A brief moment later I felt a meaty hand roughly grab my shoulder before I fell into the wall.

"GABE!" Eddie shouted in shock.

"Get OUT!" He told his buddies as they went out the opened door not wanting to face the wrath of Smelly Gabe.

"I should've done this a long time ago." He raised his fist as he stumbled over to where I laid against the wall. Just as he was about to take a swing, a voice came from the front door where Gabe's friends recently left out of,

"Hey Gabe, why are your friends rush-" My mother said before coming to a standstill when she saw the pose Gabe was in.

"WHAT'S HAPPENING HERE?" Sally Jackson yelled coming to Percy's aid.

"Just teaching this punk how to respect his elders." He growled.

"Gabe stop, please." My mother pleaded.

"And why the hell should I do that?" He questioned as he was about to me. Just then my mother grabbed his hair arm stopping him from making contact with my face.

"What are you doing?" He yelled out.

"Please." She begged.

"I'll give you one more chance to get the hell out of my damn way woman." When she didn't respond or move he became even angrier.

 _SLAP_

I watched as Smelly Gabes' meaty hand made contact with my mother's cheeks with enough force to make her fall to the floor next to me. Seeing the big fat red handprint on my mother's beautiful cheek filled me with anger. I saw nothing but red at that point. I stood to my feet and at that moment I felt the energy coursing throughout my body. I felt a tug in the pit of my gut and everything changed. Water erupted from what it seems like every room in the apartment. I didn't notice because the only thing I was paying attention to was Smelly Gabe.

"I'll kill you." I hissed out through my gritted teeth.

"Boy you don't have the balls to do that." He said although it sounded as if he was unsure about his response.

Growling even more I hovered in the air, although at the time I didn't notice. As my fist raised to punch the fat bastard in his face, the water that was swirling around the room wrapped around my arms stopping at my elbow. As I punched him, the water around my fist froze making the impact of my blows hurt even more. He tried blocking my quick but powerful jabs with his arms but that only resulted in more pain. Hearing the multiple crunches of Smelly Gabes' bones breaking, I poured even more power in the blows reminding myself of the countless suffering that he put both my mom and I in through the years.

"Perseus…" I heard my mother whisper from behind me. The sound of her delicate voice made me stop everything I was doing. The ice from my hands immediately melted from my hands and

"Yes." I said kneeling beside her.

"Please don't." She told me.

"But mom. Look at what he did to you. He put his filthy hands on you. He slapped you…" He started.

"I know, but killing him is not gonna solve anything." She explained as Percy helped his mother to her feet.

"Well what are we going to do about him?" Percy pointed at the bruised form of Gabe Ugliano.

"We should leave." She stated.

 **Scene Change**

Percy and his mother were riding in Smellys' Gabe camaro. I then thought of his fight, more like beatdown, with Gabe.

"Mom, what happened back there?" I asked now thinking about the event that just took place.

"What do you mean honey?" She asked seeming like she was only pay attention to the road.

"What with the water and me and what not." I said.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She stared at the road, obviously lying.

"Mom you're about as bad at lying as I am with academics. Please tell me the truth." I looked at her.

"Honey, you know about Greek Mythology?" She asked looking him in the eyes as she came to a stop on the empty road.

"Yeah, like with the gods and goddesses," She nodded. "But how does that relate to me and the water?"

"t's not a myth Perseus, you're a demigod." She said simply, although Percy could tell she was not lying.

"But how? It they were real, then how come no one has ever seen them?" I asked in shock.

"They live in secrecy. Even if a some Greek beings were to be seen by a mere mortal, the mortal would them as something completely different. This helps to why people believe it's only a myth." She explained patiently.

"You say mortal as if you aren't one."

She laughed a beautiful laugh. "Don't get me wrong Perce. I'm 100% mortal, it's just that some mortals can see through the facade. Like me."

"So, I'm a demigod." I said still processing the new information. He was met with the response of a nod.

"Well if I'm a demigod, then who is my father?" I questioned.

"He was a handsome man, with beautiful sea green eyes just like yours, Perseus. He charmed me the first day we met and I fell in love. His name was Poseidon, God of the seas and the Earth-Shaker. But alas, he had to leave. He wanted me to go with him, to return to the sea. But I knew my world is here. He promised me that I would be his queen, but I insisted to stay. He left just a few months before you were born, but I remember it just like it was yesterday." She said as she continued on with the car trip.

"Why did he never show up during my childhood. Instead he left us with Smelly Gabe." I said somewhat bitterly.

"Don't blame him Percy. It was against Ancient Laws for him to visit us."

"But I wish I could seen him once." I stated looking out the car window.

"I know, Percy. I know…" She trailed off.

The ride continued in silence as Percy went to sleep for the rest of it's duration.

 **Scene Change**

"Wake up, Percy. We're here." Sally shook my shoulder.

"5 more minutes, Mom." I said groggily turning in the seat.

Sally laughed, "Perseus, you can sleep in the cabin."

WOndering what she meant by this, I opened my eyes and saw a beautiful cabin standing in the middle of the sand. Out the window, I saw the ocean which seemed to sparkle in the fading sunset. This is the place where my mom said she had met my dad.

' _No wonder the God of the seas would hang out in this part of Long Island. It was amazing.'_ I thought as I exited the car. My mother been taking me here ever since I was a baby and it seems like everytime I come here, I am amazed all over again.

"We'll be staying here for a while, Perce. Just you and me." She said walking towards the cabin.

' _And no Smelly Gabe to ruin it. Just how I like it.'_ I thought following her.

 **Scene Change (2 Months Later)**

We spent the last few months just talking about whatever. She would tell me stories about Greek heroes, and I would just listen. Enjoying the sound of her voice. We sat around a campfire cooking marshmallows on a stick.

"You know, we can't stay here forever." She took a bite out of her marshmallow which had a golden colour to it.

"Why not?" I pouted, then took a bite out my slightly burned marshmallow.

"Pretty soon, we're going to run out of food," She finished her marshmallow. " It's time to go to bed." She put out the fire with a little stomp of her shoe and walked to the cabin with me following behind her.

When my mother finally went to sleep, I crept out of the bed and sat in one of the window sills of the cabin. Looking out the double plated glass covered with rain, I thought of everything that happened to me over the past few months.

' _I'm a demigod. My father is a god. Greek Mythology is real.'_ I still was very doubtful but I knew that my mom wouldn't lie to me. Then I saw a form in the distance.

The figure approached the cabin even faster and faster until it was only 50 ft away. I looked even closer and saw that the figure had the lower body of a man and the upper body of a bull. Percy remembered the bull from one of the stories his mother had told him. He then pieced two and two together and quickly realized it was a minotaur, like the one Theseus killed in the labyrinth, but his one was holding an axe.

"MOM!" I called out backing out from the window.

"What is it sweetheart." She said while sitting up on the head rest.

"THERE'S A MINOTAUR OUTSIDE!" I yelled.

"Huh?" She said rubbing her eyes.

"MOM, LOOK." I said yelling out the window. She quickly got out of bed and looked to where I was pointing to.

"Oh this isn't good," I heard her mumble. "PERCY FOLLOW ME." She yelled as she took my hand and led me out the backside of the cabin.

"MOM, WHAT'S HAPPENING!" I yelled over the the thunderstorm brewing outside.

"We just need to make it to the car, then we can leave." She led me to the side of the cabin where the minotaur then crashed into the cabin destroying the door and even more of the frontside of the cabin.

"LET'S GO," She yelled as we raced across the other side of the beach where the Camaro was parked. "WE HAVE TO REACH THE CAR WHILE IT'S STILL LOOKING FOR US IN THE CABIN."

We were about 200 feet away from the car when the part bull part man realized we weren't there. We could hear the the anger in the roar which made us run even faster. A few moments later, I heard something behind us. I stopped for a second, turned around and instantly regretted it.I saw the entire frontside to the cabin soaring at my mom who was about 200ft behind me.

"MOM WATCH OUT!" I yelled out but it was too late. The wooden structure made impact her square in her back crushing her as she fell under it. A gasp escaped her lips as the structure made impact. At that moment I saw the life flicker out of her eyes.

"Mom," A strangled cry escaped my lips as I crumpled to my knees. "NO!" I yelled.

The minotaur got closer and closer until he was 20ft away from me. This even worse than when Smelly Gabe had slapped my Mom. I felt the same tug in the pit of my gut as earlier, but this time I manifested it feeling it 100 times more clearer than I did before. Some of the water was the beach was lifted by an invisible force until it was a swirling hurricane that stretched for at least a mile with the minotaur and me being the eye of it.

I held out my hand where a 10ft trident made of ice formed in my hand. I launched the trident at the speed of sound at the minotaur which made its way toward the target. He yelled in pain as his horns were ripped roughly from his head and into a nearby tree.

I repeated this course of action multiple times with each time making the trident bigger than the last time. Pretty soon, his left arm was gone, then his right leg, then his other, and etc until all had was his head.

During all of this, I was getting closer to the crippled beast until I was 5 ft away. I kicked his face with all the might I could just out of anger. I stuck a trident right in his eyes before throwing the trident as far I could in the sea.

"Heads up." I muttered as I saw the mead turn to dust before the trident reached the sea. Everything went black as I fainted in exhaust.

 **Scene Change (1 Month Later)**

I woke up to the gentle breeze of the beach softly hitting my face. I sat up and felt the sand against my person.

' _Why was I sleeping outside?'_ I thought in confusion. So I tried to remember the last thing that happened. Then I remembered what happened to my mother. I looked for her body and quickly found it. I crawled towards her with tears leaking down my face.

' _No, this couldn't have happened.'_ I lifted the heavy wooden debris off her body which was quite hard considering that the structure was broken into multiple fragments.

Deciding that her death will not go down like this, I turned her body over so she was facing the sky. I closed her eyes and rested her hands on her stomach.

I got up to my feet and went into the forest to pick some flowers. Once I was satisfied with the amount of flowers I had I went back beside my mother's dead body.

It took me 15 minutes but I made a tiara out of the flowers which was worth it. I then put the rest of the flowers into a bundle which I then tied with long string of grass I had found. Looking around surveying the scene, I saw the two minotaur horns stuck in the center of a tree.

I went over to the tree and climbed, deciding that the horns may come in handy. Climbing the tree, I almost fell when one of the horns didn't come out immediately. I pulled with more for force, and eventually it came out the tree. A few moments later so did the other horn.

I fell down into the soft sand and just sat down. I felt the rough indents in the horn, when I came to the conclusion that the base would be too wide to be used as convenient sword. So I went to the cabin and found the sharpest knife in the kitchen drawer. Returning to the horns, I carved both horns into 3 ½ ft twin swords.

I even covered the handle part with some leather I had tore off the chairs in the cabin. I took a look at both my creations and smiled, but there was one thing missing. Designs. I thought of what designs I wanted to put on it but just decided to put Percy and a trident on the left one, and Jackson and a horse on the right one.

I sighed knowing I had leave Long Island soon before any more monsters show up like the minotaur. I got up and carried both swords into Smelly Gabes' '78 Camaro. I got into the driver's side when I realized I was too short to see past the steering wheel. I popped the trunk and got the spare steering wheel out the trunk.

 **Scene Change (4 Hours Later)**

The car came to a stop in the middle of the road where there was nothing but forest on end. The car must have ran out of gas.

"FUCK!" I yelled out in frustration as I honked the horn for a good 10 seconds.

"Now what?" I ran a hand through my messy hair. The only good thing about my "Road Trip" was that it was daytime. So I decided to go to the forest on the left side of the road and build a makeshift tent out of branches from trees and leaves and basically whatever he could find.

 **Scene Change (Present Time)**

So that was how I spent the last two years of my life. Everyday I would move to a different location traveling all across the forest. I would hunt animals, primarily deer, to make food and eventually a monster would find me. It seemed like almost every two or three days. Pretty soon, being attacked by monster so frequently would improve your senses. By now I was able to sense every monster in a 10 mile radius.

Not only did my senses improve, but so did my fighting skills. I trained everyday so I would be strong enough to not let what happened to my mom happen to anyone else I may care about in the future.

' _There's something strange going on I thought.'_ As I lept on a cyclops shoulders before impaling his one eye with my one of my twin swords. I rolled to a knee as I fell to the ground because the cyclops turned into dust.

That was the eighth monster attack in just the last 24 hours. For the last month, there has been an average of 3 monster per day I've had to fight. By now it was just getting ridiculous. I made a makeshift tent and laid down in it. Pretty soon my eyelids got heavy and then they closed as I entered the realm of Morpheus.

 **Scene Change (5 Hours Later)**

When I woke up, I could instantly tell there was something wrong. I sensed a beast far superior than the cyclops, dracaena, and even giants I've faced over the years. I scrambled to my feet and grabbed my swords. I exited the surprisingly sturdy tent and looked around. At first I didn't see anything but then I turned around and saw a massive lion standing 15 feet behind my tent. It wasn't just a regular lion, it was the Nemean Lion.

"Oh Shit!" I cursed. My outburst was met with a deep roar. I decided to let it make the first move between the both of us. After a few moments, it lept into action. I braced myself as it came closer. Then at the last moment possible, I rolled out the way while slashing my right sword at its side. This did nothing but make him angrier.

"Fuck." I cursed as I remembered that the Nemean Lion's pelt was impenetrable. But I didn't get the chance to come up with a plan as it attacked again. It roared as it front paws lifted off the ground. I rolled under the paws as it jumped over me. Both of its rear paw tore my shirt and left a 3 deep gashes in my chest. I felt the air leave my lungs.

The lion skidded to halt before it turned around faster than I could blink. I put up my swords in an X formation blocking the powerful jaws of the lion. He kept forcing me backwards until I tripped on a log behind me and fell to the ground.

Just as he was about to bite a huge chunk out of my person, I raised both the swords through the roof of his mouth. As I raised my arm, I felt multiple teeth pierce my arms as we both yelled out in pain. The lion dissipated into dust leaving behind his fur which covered me as I fell to the ground.

Looking for a water source, I saw a river just a few feet away. I crawled as I reached the stream. I touched the water with the tip of my middle finger and let the water do the rest. The water reached my wrist, then my elbow, then shoulder, and after a while it reached the rest of my body healing all the wounds. I cupped my hands together and got some water which I than drank. I immediately felt an adrenaline rush before it rushed through my body and I felt normal again.

I had found out about my water healing abilities a few months after my mother died, although I wish I had known about them, or today she would still be with me. It happened when a giant hit me with his club so had that I flew back almost 25ft into a nearby lake. The impact would have definitely resulted in several broken ribs if it weren't for the water which healed me.

I looked to the pelt and decided to make a tank top out of it. I packed the rest of fur in my satchel which I took out the cabin incase I ever need to carry something. I admired the tank top I was proudly wearing. It took me 2 hours to carve, but I had to say it looked sick!

Deciding it was best to relocate to a new area. So that was how he spent the next 3 hours. Walking until I found a great hideout. Playing it safe, I climbed a tree so that I won't be as vulnerable to monster attacks as I was while sleeping on the ground.

' _This is a pretty nice tree.'_ I thought as I admired the tree. Plans to build a treehouse sprung into my mind as I never got to build one in my childhood as we lived in an apartment. The lake that was only approximately 100ft away only fueled my motivation. So I set off to find a nearby tree just 50 yards away.

 **Scene Change (8 Days Later)**

After a week of long hours of non-stop hard work, I admired my handy work. Now I know what you're thinking, it does not take a week just make a little treehouse. But this was no ordinary tree house.

It was more like a tree palace. The structure reached up to length of a football field and was a long as 2 blocks. There were rooms in most of the trees in the area with long passages connecting them. In total, there were 14 rooms with the one in the middle being the largest with this one was connected to the other 13.

One room, held all the weapons I've made over the years. There wasn't very many, but pretty soon I wanted to fill with all kinds of cool junk. One room was where I kept the animals that I would soon cook to eat, which I guess you could call it a kitchen. The biggest one was where I slept and then the other 11 were a bit of a stretch as I got both bored and carried away.

I was pretty hungry so I went out to try and find some animals that I could hunt. Going to the balcony of the structure, I saw a rabbit hopping through the undergrowth of the forest.

' _I really need to make a bow and arrow.'_ I thought of how easy it would be to tie a string to an arrow and shoot it at the rabbit. I wouldn't even have to leave the palace. Instead, I just threw one of my hunting knives at the creature and watch it go limp. I lept from the palace and walked over to the dead animal.

"Sorry you poor thing, but survival of the fittest." I said taking the body of the rabbit into my hands before climbing back up the tree. Making my way to the kitchen, I extracted the knife from the corpse.

Sitting down in the chair, one of the many pieces of furniture that Percy made, I made a fire at my roasting station. 5 minutes later the rabbit, without the fur of course, was dangling over a fire about the size of a soccer ball. I tore a leg of well roasted rabbit and took a huge chunk.

"Hmmmm. This taste great." I savored the taste of the juicy rabbit leg. After week and a day of not eating, the rabbit leg really satisfied my belly.

After I finished eating, I put out the fire and jumped down from the palace. I just went for a good stroll looking for good materials to make bow and arrow with. Realizing if I wanted the quality of the bows and arrows, I would have to cut a tree down.

"Let's get busy." I said drawing my twin swords from behind my back which was strapped on in an X formation.

 **Scene Change (2 Hours Later)**

2 hours later left me with a sick looking bow and exactly 7 arrows. I started practicing by shooting an tree 50 ft away. On my first shot I managed to hit a very unfortunate bird who was flying a little bit too close to my target tree.

"Damn, I'm bad." I chuckled at how inept I was with the bow and arrow. Pretty soon I had shot all my arrows and as time went on my skill had increased dramatically.

"This time I can shoot birds, and other creatures, on purpose." I said sarcastically. Collecting my arrows and inserting them in my quiver. I had strapped the quiver onto one of my belt loops of my camo cargo pants as the swords were already taking the spots on my back.

I returned to the palace and took a well deserved nap which lasted for 4 hours. He then awoke when he sensed three powerful auras in the vicinity of the palace.

I got out of the bed, which had leaves and grass as cushions, and went to the weaponry room. I grabbed the quiver and quickly attached it to my belt loop. Bow in hand, I went out to the balcony to locate these powerful beings.

I let my senses guide towards their location, leaping from each tree as I did. Grabbing branch after branch, I did some pretty wicked hardcore parkour. I stopped after a couple of blocks when I felt the auras even clearer. I came to a stop in what seemed like my 25th tree. I was about to continue when I heard something,

"You know, I thought you would have learned your lesson when I killed more than half your precious hunters Artemis." I heard a sickly sweet evil voice from below.

"I'll send you to the depths of tartarus." Was the response, although this voice was much more pleasant than the last! I looked to it's source and saw a girl in a silver outfit with auburn brown hair and silver eyes, which reminded me of the moon. She looked to be about 12 years olds although I could, based on the amount of power that she was radiating.

One thing I could tell, based on the way that she was standing, was that she was badly injured. There were deep gashes deep gashes and burn marks covering her upper body. There were even spots on her person where it looked like pieces of skin was missing. Instead of blood flowing out her wounds, there was golden ichor.

' _Artemis, as in the Virgin Goddess Hunt.'_ I thought.

"I'd like to see that happen. In the meanwhile, I'll let my son tear you to bits. Now since you're immortal, you can't die. But you'll make it hurt as much as you can son right." I noticed her teeth were fangs and her eyes were more closer to a reptilian than a human.

Just then I saw who she was talking about. It was a Chimera. It had the head of a lion with a blood caked mane, the body and hooves of a giant goat, and a serpent for a tail, a ten-foot-long diamondback growing right out of its shaggy behind. Out of it's lion came a wave of fire which was directed towards the girl.

Deciding I had enough of watching the conversation, I pulled an arrow out the quiver and took aim. Aiming right at the Chimera's mouth, I let go of the string. I was satisfied when the arrow struck the Chimera in its mouth. The fire stopped abruptly as all three beings became very confused.

I fired 3 more arrows in rapid succession as I jumped down from my hiding spot. I kept on firing as I got closer and closer. Pretty soon the monster had caught on to the situation and was now bounding towards me at incredible speeds. When it reached me, I rolled out tof the way and drawed my twin swords, but not before its serpent tell bit me in the arm.

"Gahh. Son of bitch." I charged at the beast.

"What do we have here? By the smell of this demigod, I'd say he's a son of the seas." I heard the evil voice behind me. At this moment, I'd probably would have came up with a smart ass comment but I too busy fighting a freaking Chimera.

Stabbing and blocking, I tried thinking of one of the Chimera's weaknesses. I tried to remember how Bellephoron slayed the beast in the original myth.

' _He killed it by placing lead on a spear before it melted and flowed down his throat. Well fuck.'_ I thought but was quickly woken to reality when the lion sunk its teeth in my arm.

"Ahh." I grunted as I sunk to my knees. It released my arm just as its serpent tail spat acid on my face. It burned my left cheek. The lion swiped its massive paw at my chest as it pinned me to the ground. Luckily I was wearing my Nemean tank top as I didn't take any damage besides the suffocation feeling I felt when the beast put all its strength into stepping on my chest.

I took a look at the goddesses behind me and saw the look of pain on her face. The same look as pain as when my mother died. I felt an adrenaline rush enter my body. I sat up forcing the strong creature off my chest before I went into my aggressive stupor. I let the anger, that I had pent up inside me over my mother death, control my body as I moved at speeds I never thought I would reach.

Slicing and dodging and stabbing and rolling, I cut the head of the lion clean off. I then did a barrell roll to avoid the serpent from biting me before following up with a slice upwards slicing the serpent head off similar to the lion. Jumping as high I could, I brought both swords down into the giant goat and watched as the swords came down through the body and even penetrating the ground.

The monster turned to dust as I looked up towards the other being who I guessed was the "Terrible Echidna", a.k.a. The Mother of Monsters.

"Nice pet. Although I liked slaying the Nemean lion better." I said pointing to my tank top made of said beast. I said this on purpose knowing that the Nemean lion was another one her sons.

"You'll pay for this foolish demigod." She said before slithering away the into the rest of forest and most importantly, out of eyesight.

I turned around and looked at the unconscious girl sprawled on the ground. I picked her up bridal style, making sure not to touch her inappropriately as I knew the man hating Goddess would not be pleased to find a 12 year old boy touching her while she was unconscious.

10 minutes later found Artemis, Goddess of Hunt, laying in the makeshift bed in Percy's sleeping chambers. Percy came back into the room after forcing the some of the water, from the lake, to levitate towards him.

Holding her arm, I let the water gently wrap around her hand. It then spread throughout her body, healing her wounds. When she was completely healed, I left the palace to lay in the lake. Just going 3ft in, I let the water heal me of my wounds. Feeling hungrier than ever, I went out to the battle scene looking for my bow and arrow which I ditched when fighting the Chimera.

I found the bow and pretty soon a deer found his untimely death with an arrow between its eyes. Sling the dead eer across my shoulder, I went back to the palace. I then went to the roasting station and cooked the deer, but not before skinning the creature first. When I got done, I heard a voice in from my bedroom.

"Where in Tartarus's name am I?" I knocked on the outside wall of the room before entering. I took a knee beside the bed and bowed my head,

"Lady Artemis, it is my greatest honors."

A/N: Well that's the end of the chapter. I know this was a very long and eventful chapter but bare with me. I also apologize for the frequent scene changes. I know it sounds like Percy doing all those things in this chapter sounds farfetched, but who really cares about realism. I hoped you guys liked it.


	2. Chapter 2

Percy Jackson and the Lone Hunter

Chapter Two

Age 12-13

By: Khande

Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson series. Rick Riordan does.

A/N: Constructive Criticism Appreciated. If you have any suggestions leave a review.

Point of View: Percy Jackson

" _Where in Tartarus's name am I?" I knocked on the outside wall of the room before entering. I took a knee beside the bed and bowed my head,_

" _Lady Artemis, it is my greatest honors."_

"Stand boy. Explain yourself at once." She hissed out the word boy almost as if it was poison to her lips.

"Well Lady Artemis," She looked at him in disgust. "After your encounter with the Chimera, you were left gravely injured with burn marks and gashes all long your body. So I carried you here and hea-"

"You touched me!" She hissed out in anger.

"Well, I only wanted to make you comfor-" I started nervously.

"You're lucky I don't turn you into a jackalope and skin you where you stand." Her eyes gleamed dangerously. If looks could kill, I would be dead in a heartbeat.

"I understand milady. May I offer you some deer." I offered not wanting to meet the wrath of the man hating goddess known for killing men without a second thought.

"I can hunt for myself." I winced at the venom in her voice. Feeling the hunger settle in my stomach, I went to the kitchen and tore a thigh off the well cooked deer, and then put out the fire.

"As you wish." I sat down in a chair in the corner of the room.

"I ask you again male, where am I?" Yellow hues formed in the middle of her silver moon eyes.

"Well, I call this place the palace. Made it with my own bare hands." I took a bite out of the deer thigh.

"What happened to Echidna and the Chimera?" She asked surveying the room.

"Well I killed the Chimera. When Echidna saw her son get destroyed in her face, she slithered away.

"YOU KILLED MY HUNT!" She yelled as her hair started waving behind her as if there was an invisible wind.

"You were in trouble milady." I put down the deer thigh.

"I've had everything under control. I don't need anyone's help, especially the help of a male." She said with a dangerous glint in her eyes.

"With all due respect ma'am, you didn't look like everything was in control." I said getting mad that she was flat out discrediting my help.

"Such impertinence shall not be tolerated."

"Well you wouldn't have to tolerate my impertinence if you handled your own damn business by your own self." I stood face-to-face with one of the strongest Olympians. This apparently was the wrong thing to say my remark was met with slash to to the face with a knife. I felt my eye go shut as the cut extended past my eye.

"The worst part about this is that I would do the same thing 100 times over without a heartbeat again." I said the truth. A flash of surprise crossed her face before she disappeared in a flash of light.

"FUCK!" I punched the wall and felt my skin tear at impact. I called for a handful of water to heal my eye. I decided to only heal my eye and leave everything else. I used the rest of the water to look at my reflection. The cut had started on the left side of my forehead and extended to the middle of my cheek.

I kept the wound to keep as a memory to this day. The day I let my anger best me. Besides, looked pretty cool and menacing. I felt depressed that my anger was the cause of the first person I'd met after my mom's death to leave. So I decided to go out hunting to clear off some steam.

I was only out for an hour, but when I returned I had a huge pile of dead animal bodies in my arm. This pile consisted of 3 dear, 4 jackalopes, 3 rabbits, 10 birds of different variety, and

2 gazelles.

"Well, at least I don't have to hunt the the next few days." Knowing that I couldn't jump on the palace, I had made so water propel me on the balcony. So I put all the down in various piles according to the animal. I didn't cook it knowing that I would go bad if I didn't eat all out it.

 **Scene Change (11 Months and 2 Day Later)**

Ever since the day the Lady Artemi left abruptly, I tried to teleport much in the same fashion as she did. For the first few days, I failed miserably. I then realized that maybe I should somehow connect the tug in the gut of his stomach to teleportation. So I imagined the feeling, but instead of imagining feeling it in the same location I imagined it in a different one. It worked.

So I practiced and practiced until I could teleport with a single thought. It took me a month to really become proficient but it was worth it. I did notice that everytime I teleported, I disappeared in a flash of sea green light with hints of blue in it.

In the past year, I noticed that rarely any monster ever comes to palace. Even if a monster would come stumbling into the location of the palace, I would shoot them down from the balcony as I had the height and surprise advantage.

I leaned on the rail looking out towards the lake. Watching as the water rippled, cause by various birds and fish. I watched as the sunset plunging the faded red sky into the gradual darkness. It was a beautiful a scene but I couldn't help feel as if there was something missing.

 **Scene Change (Olympus Council Meeting)**

 **Point of View: Narrator**

"As you may have known, I called for the Olympus Council Meeting to form. There has been a theft of one of my most prized possessions a couple of months ago. I'm sure I informed all of you of this." Zeus's loud voice boomed through the chamber analyzing everyone in the room. " I didn't insist on getting it back it in hopes that the thief would return it to me without my insistence, but I've waited too long and now I grow impatient.

"Dear Brother, what did you see in the sky tonight?" Zeus questioned.

"Thunderclouds." The Earth-Shaker answered all but whispering.

"Without Lightning. Stolen at the Winter Solstice." Zeus said looking at his older brother.

"Brother, you know the Ancient Laws forbid Gods from stealing each-" Poseidon stood up from his throne.

"But it does not prevent our children." Zeus stood up as well.

"You're accusing my sons. I haven't seen either of them since they were babies because of you." Poseidon took a step closer to his brother.

"If it turns out that either one is the thief, I'll banish them to the depths of tartarus." Zeus took a step closer.

"If you touch them, you'll have to fight for your life." Poseidon grabbed his brothers clothing and looked him in the eye. Zeus the pushed his hands off his chest and said,

"They must return the bolt to me in 14 days, by midnight. At the Summer Solstice," Zeus said. "Council dismissed." He flashed the room as did every other Olympian.

 **Scene Change (Back At The Palace)**

 **Point of View: Percy Jackson**

I was sleeping when I sensed the most powerful aura yet enter location of the palace. I immediately got out of the bed and drew my twin swords. I walked into the balcony and surveyed the ground until I saw a man in a trench coat.

"Hello Percy." The man. Just based off his aura alone I could tell he was a god. When Artemis was here, she had a similar aura. Albeit it was noticeably weaker.

"Who are you?" I questioned with narrowed eyes.

"I'm Poseidon. Your father." I could tell he wasn't lying.

"No disrespect intended sir, but may I ask why you're here." I said sheathing my swords back on my back.

"It's a long story Perseus. Do you mind if I come in and sit down?" I looked into his sea green eyes.

"No, not at all. Follow me." I said walking to my sleep chamber. I heard a sound behind me which I assume came from Poseidon teleporting on the balcony as he came a second behind me. He sat on the bad so I took the chair in the corner.

"What is this place?" He took around the room.

"Well, I call it The Palace. I made it a year ago. I've lived here ever since." I explained.

"Fascinating," He sad. "Well you know my brother, Zeus." I nodded.

"His most prized weapon was stolen. The Lightning Bolt. It's the most dangerous weapon in the world, and in the wrong hands it will become even more dangerous. My ever paranoid brother suspects that you or your brother who took it because he thinks that I put you up to it." He explained.

"Brother. What do you mean brother?" I said confused.

"You have a brother Perseus. His name is Alexander. I believe he's one year younger than you. He doesn't even know he's a demigod yet. Besides, he's not the most morally found or polite person there is for the job."

"What're you trying to say?" I asked curious about my newly found brother.

"Look. I love the kid, but even I can see he's arrogant, self-centered, rude, and a little dim." He said with a disappointed look in his eye.

"So what's going to happen to him?"

"Well, so far I know that he's being looked after a satyr and Chiron."

"Like Chiron as in the mentor of heroes?" He nodded. "When was the bolt stolen?" I asked.

"It was stolen during the Winter Solstice. He first accused me right there on the spot, but thought better of it. Now he's insisting that I return it at once."

"What happened during the Winter Solstice?"

"There was a Council meeting." He answered.

"Well considering that Gods and Goddesses are forbidden to touch each other's Symbols of Power, were there any non-god beings present?" I asked getting suspicious.

"There were demigods from Camp Half-Blood on a field trip. They attend every year to get a look at how of Olympus." He answered while assuming a pose that looked like he was in deep thought.

"What's Camp Half-Blood?" My question brought him out his reverie.

"It's a place where demigods, satyrs, centaurs, etc attend either during the summer of year-round to escape the constant threat of monsters they face by being exposed in the real world. They mostly train or do other various things."

"Sounds like a demigod from Camp Half-Blood stole the Lightning Bolt." I concluded.

"Sound so, but there one more thing I have to say. Zeus will send you and your brother to Tartarus if he doesn't have the bolt by the Summer Solstice by midnight. Which is why I came here. I'm giving you a quest to find it; do you accept." Poseidon looked me in the eyes.

"Sounds like I don't have a choice, do I?" I grinned. Poseidon smiled at my confirmation.

"Good. Do you have any questions?"

"Where is Camp Half-Blood and who runs it?" A plan already forming in my mind.

"Here's the address." He hand me a notecard that read,

 _Camp Half-Blood, Half-Blood Hill, Farm Road 3.141_

 _Long Island, New York 11954_

"There will a tree with the body of a teenage girl at its base. This tree will signify you the boundaries of the camp. As far as I know, both Dionysus, 1 of the 12 Olympians, and Chiron direct the camp. But as you know, Chiron is away looking over Alexander," I nodded at his words. "Here. Use this mini-trident to summon me whenever you need my help. To activate it, you just need to place a drip of blood on the horse engraved on it," He handed me the trident. "The address to Olympus is on the back." I turned it around and read it,

 _Located on the 600th floor of Empire State Building_

 _350 5th Ave, New York, NY 10118_

"One thing you have to remember is that you have to suspect everyone. God and Demigod alike. Try to keep the fact that you're on a quest a secret. I have high expectations for you Perseus, don't let me down." He flashed away to Zeus knows where.

I decided to head out in the morning seeing as I needed my rest for the journey ahead. Plus, who would be awake in the middle of the night.

 **Scene Change (5 Hours Later)**

I woke up to the sound of birds chirping. It was really the best thing to wake up to when you're a demigod of one of the Big Three. Then I remembered the events of last night and smiled. It was the first time I saw my father. Then I remembered the last words he said to me.

" _I have high expectations for you Perseus, don't let me down."_

I went to the weapon room to load up on weapons. I attached the quive where I kept my arrows to the belt loop on my cargo pants and filled it up with 50 arrows. I slung the bow around my back carefully making sure it didn't get entangled with my swords. I then put my knife holsters, which I made from scratch, on the left and right of my hips. I put the longest knives I had in my collection in my holsters.

I couldn't decide whether or not to put my Nemean Lion head on mine. Mostly because it looked cool, but I didn't want anyone's first impressions of me to be that Percy Jackson reminded me of Heracles. It wasn't that I disliked him, it was just that I wanted to make a legacy based on my name alone. It probably wouldn't help that I was already named after a Greek Hero. I decided not wear it and just put in the satchel.

I then packed my satchel with other items that I might need. Ready to go; I took a look at the card my father gave me. I imagined the tug in my gut at the location the was listed at the card. I soon found the tree that my father described. It was kinda weird see the 15 year old body of a girl entangled with the roots of a tree.

I walked past the tree and past the gates that had the sign reading "Camp Half-Blood". I walked until I saw, what it seemed like, members of the camp doing various activities such as sparring, archery, and etc. I quickly found the location of Dionysus sensing his godly aura amongst the demigods. Although I had to admit that the quality of security at this camp was horrible.

I entered the cabin that had presence of the god. I walked down the long hallway and went through the doorway, which had no door. I saw a man sitting behind a desk cluttered with various objects, scattered papers, and dishes and utensils. I knocked on the wall beside me to get his attention.

"Get outta here punk. I don't babysit whiny snot-nosed demigod brats." He said kicking his feet up on the table. He reminded of Gabe. I took an immediate disliking to the god.

"My name is-" I was rudely cut off by fat man in the chair.

"I don't care what your name is punk. What part of get out don't you understand?" He summoned a can of coca cola and a magazine.

I felt disgusted at the man in front me as he read the magazine and took a sip from the can. Realizing that he wasn't going to see things my way, I'd have to do something rash but bold. I pulled out my bow and shot two arrows simultaneously. One arrow went clean through the coca cola can right in the middle of O in coca cOla text on said can. It stopped when it hit the wooden wall taking the can right of the gods hand. The other arrow went right through the smile of a woman on the cover of the magazine hitting the wall like the other arrow.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" He yelled once realizing what happened.

"Do you I have your attention now?" I deadpanned.

"Do you realize who you're talking to kid?" His eyes flashing a deep shade of purple.

"A fat lazy rude bastard." I teleported behind him, drew both my swords, held both of them at is next crossing them to form an X.

"You may be immortal, but it would hurt a fuckton if your head were to hang from your neck by only a little flap of skin." Grape vines sprouted out the wall and move towards me. In reaction, I tightened the swords around his neck causing it to shed golden ichor.

"Fine. Just remove the swords from my neck." I sheathed my swords and sat down in the chair in front of the desk before telling him about my quest.

"So you want me to gather everyone who went on the Winter Solstice field trip." He questioned with narrowed eyes..

"Yes. It would help greatly." I said in a sarcastic tone fingering one of my hunter knives.

"Very well," Dionysus said. "I'll make the announcement at dinner."

"And what in Hades name do you expect me to do until then?" I asked standing up.

"To be honest with you kid, I don't care." He said picking up another magazine. I turned around and starting leaving before I heard him mutter,

"Damn demigods." Not even turning around, I fired an arrow at his magazine which tore in half. The arrow then split the previous arrow, that I fired at the other magazine, in half. I heard a groan of frustration as I left the cabin.

Somehow I ended up in the Archery Range watching them practice. Leaning against a tree, I listened to the sound of arrows piercing the air. After a half hour I got bored, so I did some exploring. I just realized something funny. The last 3 people I have talked to since my mother's death have all been Olympians.

 **Scene Change (7 Hours Later)**

"ALRIGHT, LISTEN UP," Dionysus yelled over the conversations in the pavilion. "Everyone who present during the annual Winter Solstice field trip come forward." Only 12 people got up.

' _Not a lot of suspects.'_ I thought.

"Everyone else continue to do what you were doing before the announcement," He looked at the 12 demigods who had stood. "The lot of you, follow me."

"Mr. D, what is this about?" A very tough looking girl with light brown hair and brown eyes questioned, not looking pleased. He ignored the question. 5 minutes later, they were all in Dionysus's office.

"Everyone in this room was at Olympus during the Winter Solstice, am I correct?" I asked leaning against a wall.

"What's it to you?" A boy said who looked strikingly similar to the girl who asked Dionysus the question earlier.

"Everyone in this room was at Olympus during the Winter Solstice, am I correct?" I teleported behind them. I watched in fascination as they turned around to find me with the look of shock on their faces. Teleporting back to my original position there were multiple nods.

"Well during your field trip to Olympus, a very important item was stolen. Zeus's Master Lightning Bolt." Faces lit up with shock.

"Now one could only assume that one of you demigods is the thief." His accusations was met with cries of outrage at being openly accused.

"What's make you think anyone of us stole the bolt." I girl who looked about a year younger than me with stormy grey eyes and curly blonde hair.

"Considering the fact that the only people on Olympus that day were you and the gods."

"And what about the gods?" A boy who looked to be about 19 years old. He had a sharp nose and upturned eyebrows, but his most noticeable feature was a scar on his right cheek. It reminded me of my scar.

"Gods and goddesses are forbidden to steal each other's symbols of power." I stared him in the eyes. His eye twitched. It was so infinitesimally small that I almost missed, but I took notice.

' _Suspect #1!'_ I thought.

"So how do you plan on finding it." A boy with blue eye and brown hair questioned.

"I have my ways." I looked to the 19 year old to see if I can get a reaction out of him. I was satisfied when his face darkened and the corner of his mouth perked for a second.

"And what are you going to when it turns out that none of has it?" The 19 year old said.

' _Maybe he gave the Lightning Bolt to someone else.'_ I thought as he seemed pretty confident.

"Even if it turns out the none of you have possession of the bolt, I'm pretty sure that at least one of you have some valuable information that will aid me in my search." I looked at the group.

"Although, if you're really impatient than you can leave whenever you want." Some people made the motion to leave, including the 19 year, but I teleported to the doorway.

"If you say this statement." I held up a note card with a sentence that I wrote down preparing for this exact moment. It read,

 _I swear to River Styx that I,_

 _(Insert name here) didn't steal Zeus's Master Lightning Bolt,_

 _Nor do I have or ever had possession of said Lightning Bolt,_

 _Should I betray this Oath, I will meet a fate worth than death,_

 _So mote it be._

I wrote it down because If I recited the Oath and then gained possession of the bolt then I will meet a fate worse than death. Oaths were very powerful and should not be taken lightly. I passed the card around and made sure that everyone read it. The 19 year old paled as he read it, something that did not go unnoticed.

"You want us to make an oath to River Styx? Do you realize the consequences of Oaths?" The brunette said.

"If I don't find that bolt and bring it to Zeus by Summer Solstice then I will be banished to the depths of Tartarus." I said back. It seemed as if the temperature of the room lowered by 50 degrees.

"Besides, If you didn't steal the bolt nor have or ever had possession of the bolt then you'll have nothing to fear." I stared her in the eyes. 10 minutes later, 11 people had taken the oath. Let's see if you can guess who didn't take it.

"What's your name?" I questioned the 19 year old.

"Luke Castellan." He answered glaring darkly at me.

"Who's your godly parent?" I asked having a very strung hunch who it was.

"Hermes, God of Messengers." My hunch was correct.

"Also the God of thieves." If it was even possible, his glare darkened.

"So you caught me. I stole the Lightning Bolt," I nodded. "But I don't have it anymore." I wasn't surprised when he said this. If he did have the bolt hidden here then I would have sensed it a long time hours ago.

"Where is it?" I interrogated.

"I don't know." He lied.

"You're lying." I deadpanned.

"How can you tell?" I teleported behind him, unsheathed my left sword, and held it across Luke's throat.

' _Wow, second time I held a sword to someone's neck this day.'_

"I just know," I said cooly. "You lie again and something very unfortunate will happen." He tried struggling but it was no use as I tightened the sword around his neck drawing blood.

' _Wow, second time I made some bleed from their neck.'_

"Tell me where the fucking bolt is." I growled.

"I don't know." He lied again. I tossed the sword to the side as I tightened grip around his neck, choking him with all my strength. I loosened the hold after 15 seconds and let him gasp for air.

"Ares…" He gasped for air falling to his knees.

"Ares what?" I kicked him in his back.

"Ares *gasp* has the *gasp* bolt."

"Ares as in the God of war. Why would want the Lightning Bolt?." I narrowed my eyes. He waited 10 seconds before answering.

"He wanted to see the gods fight."

"Start from the beginning of your story." I commanded him.

"You know what my quest was two years ago? My father, Hermes, wanted me to steal a golden apple from the Garden of the Hesperides and return it to Olympus. After all the training I'd done, that was the best he could think up."

"That's not an easy quest," I said. "Hercules did it."

"Exactly," Luke said. "Where's the glory in repeating what others have done? All the gods know how to do is replay their past. My heart wasn't in it. The dragon in the garden gave me this." He pointed angrily at his scar. "And when I came back, all I got was pity. I wanted to pull Olympus down stone by stone right then, but I bided my time. I began to dream of Kronos.

"Kronos, the Titan?" He nodded.

"He convinced me to steal something worthwhile, something no hero had ever had the courage to take. When we went on that Winter Solstice field trip, while the other campers were asleep, I snuck into the throne room and took Zeus's Master Bolt right from his chair. Hades's Helm of Darkness, too. You wouldn't believe how easy it was. The Olympians are so arrogant; they never dreamed someone would dare steal from them. Their security is horrible. I was halfway across New Jersey before I heard the storms rumbling, and I knew they'd discovered my theft."

"I ... I got overconfident. Zeus sent out his sons and daughters to find the stolen bolt- Artemis, Apollo, my father, Hermes. But it was Ares who caught me. I could have beaten him, but I wasn't careful enough. He disarmed me, took the items of power, threatened to return them to Olympus and burn me alive. Then Kronos's voice came to me and told me what to say. I put the idea in Ares's head about a great war between the gods. I said all he had to do was hide the items away for a while and watch the others fight. Ares got a wicked gleam in his eyes. I knew he was hooked. He let me go, and I returned to Olympus before anyone noticed my absence. Afterward, the Lord of the Titans ... h-he punished me with nightmares." He finished.

"So, you're Kronos's bitch." I said plainly.

"What, no. I am merely a loyal servant." He said.

"No. no. Sounds like you're his bitch. I mean you got the whole story to prove you're his bitch. I mean, you have a master so weak he has to send you dreams and can't even punish you in person. And then he lures you in by promising everything you ever wanted in life and you believe. You serve him until he's strong enough to not need your help. Lastly he gets you killed while failing to get you everything you wanted unless what you wanted was death. Might as well call you and Kronos, Professor Quirrell and Voldemort." I laughed at the end.

"What?" He asked incredulously.

"Point of the story is that you're being used like a bitch. He's just lying to you Luke." I looked him the eyes.

"My master will your head." Luke said.

"Your master will have a lot of things. I'd like to see him fucking try to kill me." I said menacingly. After a few minutes of staring him down and summoned Poseidon using the mini-trident he gave me. Cutting the palm of my hand and letting a drop of blood fall on the horse engraved on it. It gave a flash and an even brighter one appeared before Poseidon stood there.

"You summoned me Percy." He said.

"Yes. This bastard right here is the Lightning Thief." I then told Poseidon everything he told me.

"Although can you wait before handing him over to Zeus as I want to retrieve the Lightning Bolt first." I said.

"Percy are you planning on going after Ares. He's the God of War, I would be careful when dealing with him."

"Relax, old man. I got a plan," Poseidon chuckled at being called an old man before flashing with Luke to who knows where. I teleported back to The Palace, put my weapons on the right side of my bed and entered the realm of Morpheus.

 **Scene Change (10 Hours Later)**

I slept for 10 hours knowing last night knowing that I needed my rest for what I was about to do next. I went out hunting and came back with a fairly large. I quickly cooked the rabbit and ate it. Putting my weapons back on my person, I teleported to the Santa Monica Bay. There was barely anyone there.

My plan was to lure Ares to the bay, knowing that he had a short temper even though he was also the God of Civil Order. I would challenge the God to a fight. I was fairly confident in my battle skills, but incase I slipped up I had the water from the bay to heal me. When I had him beat in the duel, I would summon my dad to tell the Olympian council to form. I would then teleport him to Olympus right in front of the council. There was one huge flaw in my plan. He had to have the bolt and helm on his person or else everything would be ruined. It was a huge gamble on my part.

"FUCK ARES." I yelled out to no one in particular hoping that Ares would hear it.

"HE'S A PUNK ASS BITCH!" I literally felt the temperature of the area drop at least 30 degrees.

"Kid, you dare dishonour my name." I heard a gruff voice from behind me. I was thoroughly pleased when I sensed the helm and bolt. I turned around swiftly and fired multiple arrows at once in rapid succession. I could tell he was not pleased when the arrows pierced his skin.

"Arrogant fool, you dare challenge me to a duel." He growled in anger. He unsheathed his sword from what it seemed like nowhere. He started deflecting arrows left and right, moving in blur. Not wanting him to get an advantage, I teleported behind him, firing arrows. This time he was completely surprised when I disappeared and felt arrows pierce his back. Everytime he turned around I teleported to a new location faster than I thought possible. After being hit more arrows than he can count for a few he yelled out,

"Enough punk. You're really getting annoying." He sent a wave of fire at me. I teleported behind. He was suspecting that and took a swipe at my chest. He was exceedingly surprised when his sword didn't even puncture my Nemean Lion tank top.

Ditching my bow and arrows, I unsheathed my twin swords. Move faster than I thought possible, I was taking swipes and stabs at his person while still teleporting. Kicking it into overdrive, I willed the water from the bay to freeze around his body. He tried melting his way through the ice. It was working until I ran up to him and hit the butt of my sword to his head multiple times. I did this while still slashing at his body with the other sword that I wasn't using to hit him in the head.

It was clear that I was going to win the fight, but the real question was how long it was until he went unconscious. Forcing the ice to squeeze his body even further, I kept hitting him in the head. It turned out he lasted 30 fucking minutes, but he was a God so I wasn't surprised. Smiled as I found a two foot bolt of lightning and what I assumed was Hades's helm of darkness. I cut the palm of my hand, letting a drop of blood fall on the mini-trident and after a few moments my dad flashed in.

"Form the Olympus Council." His eyes widened in shock when he saw the unconscious body of Ares with multiple gashes and arrows on his body. He put a hand on my shoulder and grabbed Ares before he flashed us to what I guessed was the Olympus throne room as there were 12 thrones 20ft high. He snapped his fingers as Luke's unconscious form appeared behind me. One by one, every Olympian flashed in sitting in their thrones with Zeus becoming the last.

"Brother, you better have a damn good reason for calling me." Zeus said. Poseidon nodded his head towards me.

"I believe you were looking for this Lord Zeus." I pulled the bolt out Ares's bag and watched as everyone's eye widen in shock.

A/N: Well the second chapter is out. Hoped you guys enjoyed it. I gotta say that this Percy is even more of a badass in my story than in canon. I specially enjoyed writing the fight between Percy and Ares.


	3. Chapter 3

Percy Jackson and the Lone Hunter

Chapter Three

Age 12-13

By: Khande

Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson series. Rick Riordan does.

A/N: Constructive Criticism Appreciated. If you have any suggestions leave a review.

Point of View: Percy Jackson

 _One by one, every Olympian flashed in sitting in their thrones with Zeus becoming the last._

" _Brother, you better have a damn good reason for calling me." Zeus said. Poseidon nodded his head towards me._

" _I believe you were looking for this Lord Zeus." I pulled the bolt out Ares's bag and watched as everyone's eye widen in shock._

"So you finally come forward and admit your theft." Zeus sat down in his throne.

"I didn't steal the bolt and neither did my brother." I came forward and knelt in front of Zeus's throne holding out the lightning bolt. When he took it, it stretched extended to about 20ft.

"Then who did?" He questioned as I took a step back. I recounted my story of everything including Dionysus, Luke, and Ares. They nodded at some parts and their eyes widened at other.

"How do we know you're not lying and didn't just frame them?" Zeus asked.

"I swear to River Styx that everything I just said is true, and if something I said was false then I shall meet a fate worse than death. So mote it be." There was a distant thunder in the background as it sealed my Oath as legit.

"Very well. You have done well Perseus. You are dismissed." I nodded and was about to turn around when I forgot about something.

"Oh and here is Lord Hades's Helm of Darkness." I gave him the helm, before I teleported to The Palace.

"Oh fuck, I'm so tired." I plopped down on my bed.

 **Scene Change (Three Months Later)**

I was out hunting one day when I sensed my father in the around I saw him wearing a trench coat.

"You know, the other Olympians were very impressed to learn that you beat Ares in a 'one on one' fight." He said.

"Well I surprised him, that really helped. What happened to him?" I asked as I shot gazelle that prancing around over 100ft away. I teleported to creature and returned to the palace as my father followed me.

"He was sent to Camp Half-Blood to serve two Millennia as a camp director like Dionysus, but his sentence was much longer." I laughed as I skinned the gazelle.

"Damn. I feel like going to the camp just to mess with him." I chuckled.

"Speaking of Camp Half-Blood, your brother just arrived the day after you left. Got himself into some real trouble he did, but I gotta say that he's real skilled with the sword."

"Been on any quest?" I said roasting the body of the animal over the fire.

"He's been on one. To hunt down the Nemean Lion and bring back the pelt. He went with a satyr and a daughter of Athena. It didn't turn out so well."

"That's a hard quest. I'm not surprised." I said mindlessly.

"You did it." He eyed my Nemean Lion tank top.

"Yeah, but I'm me," I tore off a leg. "What happened to Luke?"

"He to be with his master so we only saw befitting that we send him to the depths of Tartarus to be with his master."

"Damn, that's harsh." I laughed at the irony. "You're here for something father. What is it?" I offered him a leg which he took.

"Well I want you at Camp Half-Blood to work as a mentor of sorts. To be more specific, I want you to teach the demigods in the art of fighting. Ever since you told us about Kronos, we fear he is trying to rise to power. We gods can't not fight him and his army alone so we are trying to prepare the demigods now. And who better to train them them then the one who defeated Ares, God of Battles, in a battle." He explained.

"What do I get in it?" I asked.

"We'll pay five times your weight in gold." He offered.

"I have no need for gold." I said simply.

"Well, what do you want Perseus?"

"Nothing really." I joked.

"You have your mother's humor." He said with a smile.

"Had." I corrected.

"I'm sorry Perseus." He said.

"I'll do it." I finished the leg I was eating.

"Before it slips my mind, I wanted to give these to you." in his hands appeared a 6ft trident and a shield with a diameter of 3ft. There were special designs engraved on each metal weapon.

"The trident turns into a pen. All you have to do is twist the grip on the bottom of it 360 degrees, and to turn it back is to click it. The shield turns into a ring, just like the trident twist the grip on it 360 degrees. To turn it back, just turn the pearl on it over to the green side." He explained as the pearl was currently over on the blue side. The pen and ring will always to your pocket should you lose it.

"Thank you father." I took the weapons gratefully. I never got around to making a shield myself. Just because I never really needed it because of my water healing powers.

"I thought that since you might have so many weapons you might want to carry with you all the time, I also made you this. It's a utility belt. You put that knife and or swords holsters right here and then the quiver right here." He explained.

"Thank you once more father." I strapped the belt on my waist.

"The belt will always expand to your waist size when you grow and will never weigh you down."

"Cool." I loaded up the belt with knives, varying in size.

"I hope you shall find your new job well." He flashed out. Once I finished gathering everything I needed, I teleported to Camp Half-Blood. Walking past the tree with girl, I carried on. I kept walking until I reached the pavilion. I saw everyone eating breakfast. There must've been 100 demigods, a few dozen satyrs, and a dozen nymphs and naiads

I saw Dionysus, Ares, and who I guessed was Chiron. So I walked up to the table and saw hate flicker on both Dionysus's and Ares's face.

"I was told that my services would be needed." I looked at the table.

"Why you little son of a bitch." Ares hissed as he stood up.

"The hell you want?" I looked at him in disgust.

"You got me stuck in this hellhole for 2 millennia." He roared angrily as the conversations in the pavilion seemed to stop as everyone looked to see what made the God of war so angry.

"Now Ares, you didn't anybody ever tell you to take responsibility for your actions. I'm not the one who stole from their daddy." I laughed.

"I'll tear you to shreds punk." He sure did put a lot of emphasis on the word punk.

"If you want a fight, I can give you a hell of one." I said not backing down.

"How everybody just sit down and calm themselves." Chiron said.

"Honestly, I want to see." Dionysus said looking amused.

"I think everyone in here wants to see it." I sat down on the bench opposite of them.

"Greetings Perseus, I am Chiron, mentor of heroes." The centaur extended his hand.

"I know." I shook his hand.

"May I inquire how?"

"My father tells me that you looked over my brother during his school year."

"Ahh, you're a son of Poseidon." I nodded.

"So on to your sleeping arrangements, do you want to live in the Poseidon cabin with your brother or should we make you a one of your own?"

"I'll sleep in the Poseidon cabin."

That's pretty much how the rest of breakfast went. Chiron asked me questions and I answered them. I asked him questions and he answered them. Ares just glared at me the whole time with flat out hatred. He then introduced me to the rest of camp. When it was over, he showed me where I'll be teaching the demigods the art of fighting. After a few minutes, people showed up. I waited an extra 10 minutes before starting. There were 25 people in total, I counted.

"My job is to teach you how fight. The most important thing to remember in a fight is to always find an advantage you may have over your opponent. I'm sure many of you may know of my fight with Ares, God of war, correct." Most of them nodded their heads while looking at him in awe.

"He was very clearly the better fighter but I had multiple advantages in the fight to aid me in the fight. One of which is surprise. You see, I had initiated the fight surprising the hell out the bastard," Some people gasped as I disrespected the God. "I initiated the fight by shooting him with arrows. Another advantage I had was that I had an opponent who was blinded by rage and anger. I try to get in the head of my opponent to get them angry. Angry people fight with sloppiness, with rage, and less likely to be fight with sense."

"Another advantage was that I had a plan. You never want to do something without a plan unless you're so goddamn lucky, but intelligence will beat luck when luck fails to pay off. Any questions?" I asked after talking for a long time.

"When are we going to fight?" A boy said who looked a lot like Poseidon.

"I take it your name is Alexander." I stared him in the eye.

"Yeah. You probably heard of me, battle the Nemean Lion." He puffed out his chest.

"Come up here. You want a fight, I'll give you one." I put my bow and arrow down along with my bow and arrow along with my utility belt. "Alright everyone pay close attention to Mr. Dickhead over here, he's going to show exactly what not to do." Everyone laughed as Alexander face flushed red.

"Just to make things fair, someone put a blindfold on me and tie my right hand behind my back." A blonde girl did it, who I immediately recognized as someone who went on the Winter Solstice field trip.

He came charging at me fullspeed, blind with rage for my previous comment. Waiting till the last second, I sidestepped him. Sticking my foot and lifting it up, he did a full front flip.

"Damn kid. I thought you wanted to fight, not flip around in the grass." He growled before getting up on his feet. This time he steadily approached me, obviously learning from his previous mistake. I blocked everything he did as I sensed everything move. Mostly because he did a lot of dramatic bullshit. Getting bored, I slashed his arm making a semi-deep gash. I kicked his hand up, causing him to lose the sword. I kicked the insides of his knees in forcing him to his knees. I then kicked his back to the ground before promptly stepping on it. Holding the sword at his neck, I asked him,

"Do you yield?"

"No." He said stubbornly.

"Get Up." I stepped of his back and took off my blindfold before cutting my arm loose from the ropes.

"Who can tell me what Mr. Dickhead did wrong here?"

"He lost." A voice spoke up from the crowd as some of them laughed.

"What advantages did he have over me?" I questioned.

"He could see. He also had both of his hands free." The girl who tied me up said.

"What's your name?" I asked curiously.

"Annabeth."

"Well Annabeth, how could he use these advantages to aid him?"

"He could have kept moving to keep you guessing on where he'll strike back, instead he just stayed in the same spot." I nodded.

"Alright everyone, stand in a straight line. Hold out your weapon of choice." 15 People had out swords, 6 with spears, and the rest had hunting knives. I went down the line disarming them one by one through various ways. Until I got to Annabeth, who put up a fight but it was useless as her sword flew from her hand.

"ALL OF YOU. DEAD," I yelled to get my point across. "In battle, your weapon is life. You lose it, you lose your life. For all purpose of this training, I want your weapon glued to your hand." I went through the line again after everyone got their weapon from where it fell or to where I threw it. I still disarmed them pretty easily, but there was improvement. I did this until I deemed everyone there proficient. It took two hours but I was pretty sure it would pay off in the future.

"There are two sides to a fight," I said. "Offense and defense. In offense, you make the first move. You are the one attacking, while your opponent is trying to defend themselves from you. It is more likely that you'll get hurt in offense than in defense. On offense, the best thing you can do is to be unpredictable, wild, chaotic, but also in control." I finished with a paradox.

"But how can you be chaotic and in control at the same time?" A voice asked from the crowd.

"Good question. You want to let your emotions fuel you in a fight. You want the sloppiness of blind rage to turn you into the unpredictability of a mad man. But you want to also be in control of your emotions. At no point in any fight should you lose control, or else there will be some very unfortunate repercussions." By the looks of everyone's faces, it seemed like they understood what he was talking about.

"The best thing you can be on defense is mobile. Make it hard for your opponent to hit if you can't properly defend yourself with your weapon. Five people come up here right now." Annabeth, another girl I recognized from the last time I been at Camp Half-Blood, and three other boys came up.

"We are going to fight," I said. "But I won't have a weapon." I dropped all my weapons near a tree.

"Ready… Set… Go!" I said as they came charging one by one. Turning my shoulder 90 degrees to avoid a strike by one of the boys, I crouched. Spinning in a circle with a leg stuck out, he fell to the ground. Another boy made to stab with his spear. Using his momentum against him, I yanked it forward. He pulled it back with a lot of strength, so I let go of it. He stumbled into the other boy.

I tossed the spear to the side and dodged another spear as the brunette rushed me along with the other two boys. I blocked her the side of her spear, not the the tip, with my forearm. I then twisted it in her hands before yanking it over to block the attack of the boys. Using sheer brute strength to push them back, I used the butt of the spear to knock all three of my opponents if their feet. Tossing that spear to the side, I looked at Annabeth. She appeared to be analyzing me.

I started walking towards her. She took a stab at my chest, which I deflected with my forearm. This continued on for 30 seconds as I blocked, dodged, ducked, jumped, and etc. She was good, but pretty soon she exposed her attack while lunging at me with her sword. I rotated my shoulders 90 degrees, and took her arm. Folding it behind her back. I took her sword and held it to her neck while wrapping her in my arms so she couldn't escape.

"Do you yield?" I asked.

"Yes." I heard her respond. I let go of her and gave her back her sword.

 **Scene Change (Lunch)**

I was sitting at the head table along with Dionysus, Ares, and Chiron. I was just eating whatever there was one the table. I spoke to the glass which filled up with water.

"Perseus I hope you don't mind me asking, but what material is your shirt there." Chiron asked eyeing my tank top.

"The fur of the Nemean Lion." I said mindlessly.

"Oh. You know, your brother went on a quest two months ago." I nodded.

"I was informed he went with a satyr and a daughter of Athena."

"Yes. A satyr by the name of Grover. The girl's name is Annabeth." Chiron said. For some reason I was reminded of the tree with the dead girl at it's base.

"Hey Chiron, I saw a tree with the body of a dead girl when I entered Camp Half-Blood. What's that all about?" I became curious.

"Oh that's a long story to tell." He said grimly reminiscing something which, by the looks of his face, was pretty important.

"Well, I have a long time to wait." I said.

"Her name is Thalia. The girl, not the tree," He clarified. "Daughter of Zeus. She was 12 years old when she died." I nodded.

"Well, I mean you of all people must know how difficult it is to survive in the real world being the child of the Big Three." I nodded once more. "One of the reasons, I was sent to look after brother. Well a satyr was sent to rescue her and bring her to Camp Half-Blood. Her and her alone. His name was Grover."

"Well he had successfully found her and they began making their way to camp. They found two more demigods. Annabeth Chase, who was seven at the time, and Luke Castellan, who was fourteen. Grover, initially, did not want to bring Luke and Annabeth at the time not because he didn't like them, but because he was given strict orders to retrieve Thalia and bring her safely. Naturally, the more people you have; the slower you travel and and becomes more difficult to protect everyone." I followed his story.

"But Thalia, being the stubborn girl she was, said she wasn't going anywhere without Luke and Annabeth so Grover agreed. They made it to the boundaries of camp Half-Blood but there were monsters close on their trails. Luke and Annabeth were carrying Grover as he got injured badly. So in order for her friends to make it safely to camp, she sacrificed her own life."

"She tried distracting them and fighting them but she had no training. She was quickly killed by the swift blow of a Cyclops club. Her body was thrown into that tree where she is now today. Zeus looked down to her body and gave it magic. That same magic keeps the monsters away and outside the boundaries of Camp half-Blood so that no demigods dies a similar death." He finished.

' _Brave girl.'_ I finished the rest of my food.

 **Scene Change (5 Hours Later)**

I walked into the Poseidon's cabin. I put my weapons to the right side of my bed, and laid down. Twenty minutes later, I heard the door to the cabin open. In came Alexander as he sat on his bed.

"Hello brother." I said surprising him as he didn't notice me.

"Why are you in here?" He eyed me disgustingly.

"Relax kid, I don't bite." I grinned.

"I'm not a kid." He said outrageously.

"I'm 13 and your 12. To me, you're a kid." I laughed.

"Why are you here?" He asked again.

"Well you see, my parents liked each other very much. To show their affection for one another, they had se-" I started.

"NO! NO! NO! That's not what I meant." He said.

"Oh, because I was worried that you may be too young to hear about those types of things." I said trying to keep a straight face.

"You're only a year older than me." He said.

"Your point is?" I deadpanned.

"Oh nevermind. Why are you in this room, laying on a bed?"

"Because it will be silly if I laid on the floor. Is there something wrong with your head?" I said. 

"GAHHH." I laughed as he got frustrated.

"I'm here because I'm sleeping here." I said.

"Why don't you have your own cabin like Dionysus, Ares, and Chiron?" He questioned.

"I wanted to get to know you. I mean, you're my brother. I don't have any ghumane family left besides you." I remembered when my mom died in front of my eyes.

"What happened to your mom?" He asked. That's pretty much how the next 2 hours went. I told him stories about my life and he told me stories about his life, until we fell asleep.

 **Scene Change (9 Months Later)**

By the time Winter Solstice had came around, about 80% of the population of Camp Half-Blood had returned home about 2 weeks after I had arrived. There were only 20 campers left. I was glad to see that Alex was amongst them. Over the past 4 months, I had trained them to their hardest. Everyday, after breakfast, I made them run around all of Camp Half-Blood 10 times, and whatever place you came in was the amount of extra laps you had to run. I always ran with them and always came in first. S0 the least amount of laps they had to run was 12 and the most was 30. I used this to motivate them to run faster than they had ever ran before. Despite coming first every time, I ran until everyone had finished their laps.

After that, I would teach them offensive fighting techniques with all weapons, including the bow and arrow. Pretty soon, it would be time for lunch as the running had taken up a huge portion of the before non regimen. We would go eat lunch and come back, so I can teach them defensive techniques with all weapons, including the bow and arrow again. I would then have them spar one on one. Then two on two, and so on until it was 10 on 10. I made sure they learned with their teammates instead of alongside them. Yes, there is a difference.

Over the 9 months, Alex and I formed a bond. Not as close as maybe Apollo and Artemis, but it was pretty damn close. He was still so very arrogant, but somehow he made it work. Most of the summertime campers, demigods who only stayed at camp during the summer, returned a few days ago with some coming to camp a few days after. Every now and then, the campers played Capture the Flag. I didn't play because it would be unfair to the opposing team. Dionysus and Ares were kinda warming up me by not threatening me every time I entered an area that they were in.

It seemed like everything was going great, but I knew something big was going to happen. Turns out that something big happened today. I was sitting at the head table when it happened. I sensed a monster enter the camp boundaries and another one. That shouldn't have been possible. They shouldn't have gotten past the Thalia's tree.

"Uh Chiron. Something's wrong." I stood up.

"What do you mean Percy?" He said.

"I sensed two monsters enter the camp." I walked outside the pavilion and looked for danger.

"Impossible. Monsters can not come past Thalia's tree." Dionysus said behind me.

"I know that, but I sensed it." I said not seeing anything at first.

"You're sense are off kid." Ares smirked behind me. Right after he said that, I heard the distant sound of heavy footstep. It seemed like everyone else heard it too as mostly everyone focused their attention outside.

That's when I saw it. There were two bulls charging at the pavilion full speed. The thing is that those bulls did not look like normal bulls. They were bronze mechanical bulls the size of elephants, but they were much faster than the elephants. I looked closely to the mechanic creatures and realized that they puffing out little puffs of fire from their mouths and noses.

' _Great! The Colchis bulls, made by Hephaestus himself. What type of fucking bull breathes fire?_ ' I thought. I flipped the pearl on my ring as it turned to the green side. I watched as the ring turned into a shield.

' _Better use the trident as well.'_ I pulled a pen out of my belt. I clicked it once and it transformed into a 6ft trident.

I started running towards the bull at full speed. When I was about to make impact, I slid under the mechanic creature. Jabbing it in the stomach, I almost got trampled by the angry bull's legs. My jab didn't seem to do anything to the bull, even though I decimated its underside. Trying to find a weak spot on the machine, I blocked the other bull's horns with my shield. It would have took my head off if it wasn't for me paying close attention to my surroundings.

Trying to stand my ground, it forced me back several feet. I let it push me back into a tree where I then rolled out of the way. This maneuvering made the bull effectively lodge his horn so deep in a tree that they were sticking out the other side. The other bull came charging at me. I stood behind the other bull as it was trying to dislodge its horns from the very thick tree. I then jumped as high I could. I landed on the bull as it made impact with the other bull. When I landed, I forced the trident to penetrate the bulls back. Pushing with all my strength, I'd managed to roughly go through the bull's body.

By the time I destroyed that bull, the other one had dislodged his horns from the tree. He stared me down with mad rage. A fiery wave escaped his mouth as I hid behind the shield. The wave lasted for about 15 seconds before it stopped. Taking aim with my shield, I threw it like a discus at the bull where it cleanly took off the bulls front legs. Knowing it was a huge risk as I now had now fire protection, I took away its mobility. It lunged at me with it's sharp as hron while breathing fire. I stepped on his head, getting fire burns on my left arms, I climbed on to its back. Jamming the trident through the top of the machines head, it went limp. I hopped down,

"Bad bull." I said putting my hands on my knees. I heard cheering behind me as everyone came rushing towards the fight scene.

"Are you okay Perseus?" Chiron said glancing my burned left arm.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," I assured him. "The real question is what the fuck happened to Thalia's tree." There were laughs amongst the crowd. I started walking towards it, and so did everyone else. When we arrived, the tree was in some pretty shit shape.

"Is it dead?" A random voice from the crowd asked.

"It's dying." Chiron said grimly.

"What happened to it?" Annabeth asked.

"It looks like someone poisoned the tree." I looked at the roots of the trees which were a nasty black shade.

"We need to report this to Olympus immediately," Chiron said. "Perseus, can we trust you to look after camp while we're away." I nodded.

"Very well." Chriona, Dionysus, and Ares left.

"Alright, everybody back to the pavilion." I ordered them. When we got back, everybody sat down and started chattering. Looking at my glass of water, I poured it over my left arm. The burns on my arm went away once the water made contact with my skin.

' _Who the hell could've possibly poisoned the tree?_ ' I thought. No one came to mind but I felt like there was a traitor amongst our ranks.

"Hey Percy, I came up with an idea for how to save the tree from dying." Alex and Annabeth walked up to me just before Annabeth punched him hard in the shoulder.

"I came up with the idea. He just sat there like an idiot." She said glaring at him.

"What is it?" I asked becoming curious.

"Well, I thought about what item can cure the tree." She said with a wicked gleam in her eyes.

"That's a dangerous quest Annabeth." I immediately knew what she was talking about.

"It's the only way Percy." Alex said.

"I don't have the power to send you guys on a quest. We'll talk about this later when Chiron returns." I said not liking the idea of my younger brother and a close friend going on quest to retrieve the Golden Fleece. After an hour, I sensed the presence of 2 gods and another person. Assuming they were Ares, Dionysus, and Chiron I walked out and said,

"While you guys were away, Annabeth and Alex came up with a great idea to stop the tree from dying. They want to go on a quest to retrieve the Gold-" I stopped when I saw that the third person wasn't Chiron.

"Where's Chiron?" I asked confused, looking at the man with blue eyes and gray hair standing next to Dionysus.

"He was fired." Ares said.

"What? Why?" I was thoroughly surprised when he said this.

"The other Olympians suspected him of poisoning the tree." Dionysus said in a bored tone.

"Why would they suspect them him. If anything, I would suspect Ares over there." He growled at my comment.

"Because they think he's trying to help Kronos rise to power." Dionysus said in the same bored tone.

"Why would they think that?" I asked incredulously.

"Because he's the son of Kronos, foolish boy." The stranger finally said something.

"And who are you?" I said taking a step closer to him.

"My name is Tantalus. Former king of Tantalis. You will never match up to young one." He said arrogantly. I wanted to punch his face right then and there but thought better of it,

"Are you the cunt who tried feeding the gods you're own son?" Dionysus and Ares snickered as they remembered it personally.

"You dare disrespect me?" He said getting flustered.

"Yes. I do dare." I said plainly.

"Why you insolent little brat." He drew his sword. By now the campers were standing just outside the pavilion watching the conversation unfold.

"What's life without a little insolence?" I deadpanned.

"As much I would like to see you guys fight, we have to get to business." Dionysus said, somewhat acting like Chiron before he was fired. Ares and Dionysus broke the news to the campers about Chiron. There were many cries of outrage at hearing their beloved camp director being fired.

 **Scene Change (A Week Later)**

I was eating at the head table, when I remembered about the quest Annabeth and Alex wanted to go on. I brought it up to the other 3 inhabitants of the table. They agreed that the quest needed to be done, just not on who should be on the quest. I wanted Alex and Annabeth to go the quest, but the dickhead wanted Clarisse La Rue to go on it. We argued back and forth, but the final decision came down to Dionysus seeing as Ares didn't care.

"He is the camp director Perseus. You're only the fight instructor." Dionysus pointed out.

"I'll make the announcement," The cunt stood up. "Ahem, may I have everyone's attention."

"NO!" I coughed. Laughs rung out the pavilion. He glared at me.

"Hey man. What can you do about them damn allergies?" I threw my hands up. There were more laughs.

"Before I was so rudely interrupted," He started. "We have came to decision to issue a quest to one you. A quest to retrieve the Golden Fleece from the island of Polyphemus." There were multiple gasps.

"We have came to the unanimous decision to give this quest to Clarisse La Rue." There were multiple cheers.

"It wasn't unanimous by the way," I said garnering snickers from the two gods. "Just wanted to get that out there."

 **Scene Change (1 Hour Later)**

"You want us to do what?" Alex asked incredulously as both Alex and Annabeth stood with me outside the Poseidon cabin.

"What are you death? I want you to go on the Golden Fleece quest." I said.

"But they already assigned Clarisse to the quest." Annabeth said.

"I know. I wanted you guys to go on it but the new Mr. dickhead wanted Clarisse. Annabeth laughed at my nickname for Tantalus.

"Get ready," I said. "Come back here when you're ready." I ordered them. They were came back 20 minutes later.

"Do you have everything you need?" They both nodded.

"Alright go." I said. Alex and I shook hands. Annabeth pulled me into a bone-breaking hug, which I returned.

"Be safe." I called out to them when they started walking away. I had a feeling they would have an encounter with a god really soon to help them on their "quest".

A/N: There's Chapter 3. Don't really have that much to say about it. Hope you guys liked it.


	4. Chapter 4

Percy Jackson and the Lone Hunter

Chapter Four

Age 13-14

By: Khande

Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson series. Rick Riordan does.

A/N: Constructive Criticism Appreciated. If you have any suggestions leave a review.

Point of View: Percy Jackson

" _You want us to do what?" Alex asked incredulously as both Alex and Annabeth stood with me outside the Poseidon cabin._

" _What are you death? I want you to go on the Golden Fleece quest." I said._

" _But they already assigned Clarisse to the quest." Annabeth said._

" _I know. I wanted you guys to go on it but the new Mr. dickhead wanted Clarisse. Annabeth laughed at my nickname for Tantalus._

" _Get ready," I said. "Come back here when you're ready." I ordered them. They were came back 20 minutes later._

" _Do you have everything you need?" They both nodded._

" _Alright go." I said. Alex and I shook hands. Annabeth pulled me into a bone-breaking hug, which I returned._

" _Be safe." I called out to them when they started walking away. I had a feeling they would have an encounter with a god reall soon to help them on their "quest"._

It's been two days since Annabeth and Alex left, and Tantalus has been giving me shit ever since. He tried yelling at me, but I just walked away. He then tried to force me wash the dishes and other menial labors like that, but I refused much to the amusement to the other two camp directors. I walked into the pavilion and sat down at the head table.

"Ah Perseus, just the person I wanted to see. You have been given the task of washing the dishes from today's breakfast." He said looking smug.

"Shove it up you're ass." I yawned.

"If you don't follow the instructions of your boss, then I'm going to have to fire you." I stretched my arms.

"Fire me dickhead, I don't care. I can still come to Camp Half-Blood seeing as I'm still a demigod." I pointed out. His smirk faltered before it returned full force.

"Seeing as I'm your Camp Director, you have to listen to what I say."

"You never fired me dumbass." I took a piece of bacon.

"Due to your lack of following order, I going to have to release you from your job." He looked victorious.

"I do follow orders. My job is to train demigods, I train demigods, i.e. following orders. Holy fuck, you're dumb." Ares and Dionysus were howling with laughter as Tantalus stormed out the room.

"Someones on their period today." I ate my breakfast.

 **Scene Change (A Few Days Later)**

It was lunch time when an Iris Portal opened near the head table. All conversations stopped when voices rung through the portal. I saw Alex holding a sword facing a boy who I didn't recognize.

"You don't have to do this Ethan. You don't have to listen to Kronos." Alex said.

"I don't have to, I want to," He smiled wickedly. "After Luke was banished to Tartarus, I became his right hand man because I wanted to. I poisoned Thalia's tree because I wanted to, and I will bring down Olympus because I want to." He finished.

"We don't have the fleece. We sent it on ahead to Camp Half-Blood." Annabeth spoke from somewhere around the room.

"Very well. Now I'm going to have to kill you." The portal closed.

"It appears as if Chiron is innocent." Dionysus said looking at Tantalus.

"You can't send me back to the Fields of Punishment." He said nervously right before. Dionysus snapped his fingers and Tantalus disappeared in a flash of light.

"Finally." I said aloud.

 **Scene Change (2 Days Later)**

Pretty soon Clarisse arrived at Camp Half-Blood with the Golden Fleece. Dionysus gave her the honor to put the fleece on the tree. The fleece took effect on the tree immediately as it showed signs of getting better. A few hours later, Annabeth, Grover,and Alex arrived at Camp-Blood on centaurs. I made them tell me the story of their trap, inviting Annabeth back to the cabin.

So two days later I had volunteered to monitor the fleece along with Annabeth. We were just talking about what came to mind when I heard a gasp behind me. I turned around and saw the body of Thalia stirring beneath the tree's roots.

"Uh, Annabeth. Something's happening." I looked at her.

"What do you mean, Perseus?" She questioned walking over.

"Thalia. I think she's alive." Annabeth gasped when she saw Thalia's eyes flutter open.

"Where am I?" Thalia tried sitting up but was stopped but the roots that encased her body. I cut multiple roots with my sharpest knife, being careful to not accidentally cut Thalia.

"Thalia." Annabeth said tearfully.

"Is that you Annabeth?" Annabeth nodded. She scrambled to her feet as they both hug. I winced when I saw how tight they were hugging each other.

"I feel awkward." I said as they broke the hug up.

"Who are you?" She asked as I ran a hand through my shoulder length hair.

"My name is Percy Jackson." I extended my hand which she shook.

"So should we tell Chiron about Thalia?" Annabeth asked.

"I guess. It's not everyday a girl come back from the dead after being a tree." I started walking towards Chiron's cabin as the girls started talking about who knows what. I knocked his door loudly and the door opened 30 seconds later.

"Yo Chiron, some magical shit happened and well…" I trailed off and stepped away revealing Thalia.

"Thalia… How? Come in, come in." He ushered us in. He then lead us to a table where Annabeth, Thalia, and I sat down.

"What happened?" He asked.

"I have no idea." Annabeth said.

"The fleece," I started. "When it was healing the tree it must have also brought Thalia back to life."

"If it did then why does Thalia look like she's 15. She died when she was 12. Even if her body aged while apart of the tree, she should have aged 7 years, not 3." Annabeth said.

"Don't look at me. The last I remembered was flying dozens of feet after being hit with a club." Thalia said as we focused our attention on her.

"Kronos…" We heard from Chiron.

"What?" I asked.

"This was all apart of Kronos's plans." He said mysteriously.

"Again Chiron, I ask what." I said confused.

"Well you see Perseus, there was a prophecy. A prophecy about a child of the Big Three." I looked at Thalia not sure if she knew I was a child of Poseidon.

"For a while I thought the prophecy was about Thalia, but she died. So when Grover told me that he had encountered a child of Poseidon, your brother, I went down to his school immediately. I was sure the prophecy was about him. Then I met you, now I don't who the prophecy is about." He said.

"What's the prophecy?" I asked. He then recited,

 _A half-blood of the eldest gods_

 _Shall reach sixteen against all odds_

 _And see the world in endless sleep_

 _The hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap_

 _A single choice shall end his days_

 _Olympus to preserve or raze_

"The oracle gave this prophecy over 70 years ago. It was actually the reason why Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon swore to never have children again." He said.

"And since Hestia and Hera are virgin goddess with Demeter's only child being a god, it must mean a child of the Big Three." Annabeth deduced.

"In the second to last line, you said ' _a single choice shall end his days_ '. I mean unless Thalia's hiding something then the prophecy can't be about her." Thalia hit me on the back of her head as Annabeth snickered.

"Yeah, I though that at first, but then realized that his could refer to the hero. As in, a single choice shall end the male hero's days. And the hero could refer to anyone" He said.

"Kronos wanted Thalia alive so that either the rise or fall of Olympus would come much sooner than if I as the one the prophecy talked about." I said.

"Well fuck," I said. "When's your birthday?" I asked Thalia.

"December 22nd." She answered.

"Alright, I thinks it time you kids get your sleep." Chiron said.

"I'm not a kid!" Annabeth, Thalia, and I said at the same time as Chiron laughed.

"Stop that." We said again glaring in a the other two.

"I said stop." We said again as Chiron was howling with laughter.

"Uhhh." We groaned.

 **Scene Change (Tomorrow Morning)**

It was the understatement of the century to say everyone was surprised when Chiron informed them that Thalia was alive the following morning. All day, she's been getting strange looks.

"Hey Dionysus," I started. "How the fuck do you manage to have children while staying at camp?" I asked looking at his table which was filled with demigods.

"I have my ways." He said mysteriously. I looked over at Zeus's table, which had only Thalia sitting at it. She looked kind of lonely, so I got up and sat across from her.

"What's up pinecone face?" I sat down.

"What're you doing here kelp head?" Thalia asked laughing her nickname.

"Looks like you needed a friend." I said taking a piece of her bacon from her plate ignoring her indignant cry of hey.

"Or two." Annabeth came and sat down next to Thalia.

"So we're friends now kelp head?" She asked.

"Yeah. Think about it," I started. "Kelp head, Pinecone face, and who could forget about Wise girl." I said dramatically.

"I don't get it." Thalia said.

"We can be a monster fighting trio or some cool shit like that." I explained.

"No, I think she gets that. What she meant is that, why would we have you as a partner?" Annabeth laughed.

"Oh woe is me. I'm not good enough to be within the presence of two lovely, beautiful ladies." I put my face in my hands as I saw them both blush.

"Exactly. Now you get. Try to keep up Seaweed Brains." Annabeth said.

"You see that Thalia. I got a new nickname. I think I prefer her nickname over yours." I said sticking my tongue out at her.

"Yeah whatever fish breath." She ate a waffle.

"Fish breath. That's even worse than Kelp Head." I laughed.

"Who's the hot chick?" Alex asked was he came into the dining pavilion and sat down next to me.

"Alex." I warned knowing that all children of Zeus had a short temper.

"Is she single?" A spark of lightning flew out Thalia's hand and hit Alex square in the left cheek.

"OW!" He said holding a hand to his face.

"I warned you." I laughed at him taking a sip of water.

"The hell you do that for?" He asked Thalia as there was a red mark on his face.

"Because I wanted to." She said with a dark look.

"Crazy whore." He muttered. Annabeth must've heard because she kicked him really hard in the shin.

"What you do that for?" He rubbed his shin.

"Uhhh." I groaned putting my face in my hands not wanting to see the monstrosity.

"Just leave." Annabeth said.

"I'll go when I want to." He said stubbornly. My groan only deepened. There was another kick to his shin.

"What you'd do that for you slut?" This time I punched him square in his jaw. He just reminded me so much of Smelly Gabe that it was on instinct.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" He held his jaw.

"Leave!" He stormed out the pavilion.

"Who was that?" Thalia asked watching him leaving.

"My brother." I said.

"Your brother's an asshole." She said.

"I know. He does have his flaws, but he's a good person." I took a bite out some toast.

"Hard to believe." She said.

"So does that happen a lot?" I asked.

"Does what happen a lot?" She asked confused.

"Do boys just come up to you and hit on you?" I asked.

"Yeah. After a few times, I've gotten used to it." She said somewhat depressed.

"Well, it shouldn't happen once." Annabeth said.

 **Scene Change (4 Months Later)**

Ever since that day I haven't spoken to Alex since, but I didn't really care since he was acting like an asshole. So, it's been Annabeth, Thalia, and I doing everything together. Annabeth had got a boyfriend a month later, a son of a minor god. It didn't last a full week. He tried being intimate with her but she wasn't ready. He then cheated on her with a daughter of Aphrodite a day later.

She came crying to Thalia and I as she told us that she saw them kissing. She cried on our shoulders for at least 2 fucking hours. Needless to say that he faced two angry demigods of the Big Three the next day. It was safe to say that the jerk wouldn't be able to pee standing up for at least a while. She never tried dating after that preferring to stay in Thalia and my company. We didn't mind.

We were all sitting at the Poseidon table as we switched between Poseidon and Zeus table. I sensed the presence of a god enter the camp along with a titan and several other beings.

"What's wrong Percy?" Annabeth asked seeing me face.

"I sensed the presence of a god and a titan." I walked out the pavilion. There were several girls, wearing matching silver outfits walking towards the pavilion.

"Hunters of Artemis." I heard Thalia whisper from behind me.

"Lady Artemis." I bowed to the 12 year old girl who I recognized as Artemis. I saw Annabeth and Thalia bow beside me.

"Rise boy." In her eyes were the look of disgust, but also the look she had when she left The Palace around 2 years ago.

"How come you never bow to me." Dionysus said walking out the pavilion, looking at the scene.

"Because I don't respect you." I said simply as Thalia and Annabeth laughed. I saw a little smile on Artemis's face before it disappeared faster than it appeared.

"Artemis. What are you doing here?" He said ignoring me as he got used to my disrespectful comments.

"I was issued a solo quest by my father. As I can not bring my hunters along with me, I'm letting them stay at Camp Half-Blood. I'll be leaving very shortly, but not before my hunters decimate the camper in Capture the Flag." She smirked with pride of her hunters.

"Verywell. Chiron said.

20 minutes later had left the campers playing Capture the Flag with the hunters. Since it was school time, the were only 28 campers including Thalia and Annabeth. So it was a pretty fair fight as there were 30 hunters. Ares, Dionysus, Artemis, and I sat in chairs was Chiron

"Why is the boy not participating?" She asked Chiron, looking at me.

"It would be unfair." I said

"Are insinuating that my hunters are so weak that a mere male demigod will offset the game into a win of the opposing team." Her eyes flash dangerously.

"I say a lot of things milady, most of which can be insinuated into different ways." I said cryptically was everybody looked at me and gave me a look that said, _'What the fuck did you just say?'._ The game ended a few minutes later with the highly coordinated hunters took the win.

 **Scene Change (A Week Later)**

Annabeth and Thalia spent a great deal of the last week hanging out with the hunters. I just went to the lake every time they hung out because I knew the hunters would hurt me greatly if I even looked at them the wrong way.

The hunters would come to my fight lessons, but only just to mock everything I said. I ignored them because I already messed up once with Artemis because of my anger and did not want to do the same with her hunters. I was sitting at the head table, because Annabeth and Thalia were sitting with the hunters. I was listening to a conversation between Dionysus and Ares about wine when I felt a tap on my shoulder,

"Percy, can we talk to you?" Annabeth said nervously next to Thalia. I got up and followed them outside the pavilion.

"What did you want to talk about?" I asked was I saw how guilty their faces looked.

"Well… Thalia and I were thinking about joining the hunt." My first thought was that they were leaving me. I immediately became sad, but if they wanted to be happy then I shouldn't stop them.

"If this will make you happy, then I will not stop you." They hugged me so hard that I couldn't breathe. They then walked back into the pavilion.

Deciding I needed to clear my mind, I went back to my cabin. I sat down on my bed before I noticed something strange. Alex's stuff was nowhere to be found. Ignoring laid down. After 10 minutes, I sensed a god enter the boundaries of camp. It was most likely Artemis returning from her quest. I walked down to the pavilion was I saw Thalia and Annabeth talking to Artemis.

10 minutes later, everyone were gone. The hunters, Artemis, and most importantly Annabeth, and Thalia.

 **Scene Change (The Start of Summer)**

I still hadn't completely gotten over Annabeth and Thalia leaving to join the hunt. I didn't know what to do with myself. I rarely talked to anyone besides Dionysus, Ares, and Chiron. If it weren't for my fight lessons, then they would be the only people I talked to. I had informed Chiron that Alex was missing, but Chiron had no idea where he went.

One of the consequences of Thalia and Annabeth leaving was that they became ageless. Meaning that Thalia can never age again. I was now the demigod the prophecy referred to. I didn't care though. I couldn't help but think that every day they were out there in the real world was a day where they could've breathed their last breath.

I was mad that I lived within the safe comforts of Camp Half-Blood, while they were out there fighting monsters. I was mad that I wasn't with them. They were like my family. Not like Alex, he was just an asshole. I guess they just reminded me of my mother. Great girls, just had some really bad stuff happen to them.

"Perseus." I heard Chiron from behind me was I was sitting at the head table.

"Yes." I turned around.

"Grover informs me that he encountered two powerful demigods at Westover Hall. He thinks they are the children of Hades. If they are, I want you to retrieve them. Bring them to camp." He said.

"I guess." I teleported to where Grover was at that very moment. I was teleported to a gym strewn with decorations about including black and red balloons and there were crepe-paper streamers taped to the walls.

I took a look around the room and saw it must have been a school party. Girls moved around in football huddles, the way they always do, wearing lots of makeup and spaghetti-strap tops and brightly colored pants and shoes that looked like torture devices. Every once in awhile they'd surround some poor guy like a pack of piranhas, shrieking and giggling, and when they finally moved on, the guy would have ribbons in his hair and a bunch of lipstick graffiti all over his face. Some of the older guys hung out at the edges of the gym and tried to hide, like any minute they might have to fight for their lives.

"What's up goat man?" I leaned on his shoulder surprising the hell out of him.

"Oh Percy, it's you. Why are you dressed like and with weapons too, you'll stick out like a sore thumb." He panicked after getting over the shock and a near heart attack.

"Who cares? I'm just going to get the demigods and leave. No one will even pay attention." A jock, who looked about 15, with blue eyes and brown hair came to up to me and said,

"Dork." He started to walk away before I said,

"Pussy." he turned around angrily and asked,

"What the fuck did you just say, nerd?" He looked angry as hell.

"You heard me dickhead. Get a breath mint while you're at it." I said plainly. He made a move to punch before I kicked him in his groin. I then pushed him into a table that was next me was he fell on it causing the fruit punch to fall on his head. Everyone in the area looked at me before I said,

"What? He was looking a little bit thirsty." Some people laughed and smiled.

"Come on Grover, where are they?" I asked looking across the gym once I was no longer the center of attention.

"There they are," Grover nodded toward a couple of younger kids arguing in the bleachers. "Bianca and Nico di Angela" The girl wore a floppy green cap, like she was trying to hide her face. The boy was obviously her little brother. They both had dark silky hair and olive skin, and they used their hands a lot as they talked. The boy was shuffling some kind of trading cards. His sister seemed to be scolding him about something. She kept looking around like she sensed something was wrong.

When Grover and I started walking towards the pair, a man came from what it seemed like nowhere and started talking to them. He held them by the scruffs of their neck, steering them out the gym and into a hallway. Like kittens. We followed trying to get past the unruly crowd. We finally made it we entered the dark hallway.

We jogged down the corridor, but when I got to the other end, no one was there. I drew my twin swords and opened a door and found myself back in the main entry hall. I was completely turned around. I didn't see the man anywhere, but there on the opposite side of the room where the di Angelo kids. They stood frozen in horror, staring right at Grover and me. We advanced slowly.

"It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you." They didn't answer. Their eyes were full of fear.

' _What was wrong with them? Where was the man?'_ I thought.

"My name's Percy," I said, trying to keep my voice level. "I'm going to take you out of here, get you somewhere safe." Bianca's eyes widened. Her fists clenched. Only too late did I realize what her look meant.

She wasn't afraid of me. She was trying to warn me. I whirled around and something went WHI1ISH! A force like a huge hand yanked me backward and slammed me to the wall. I slashed with my swords but there was nothing to hit. A cold laugh echoed through the hall.

"Yes, Perseus Jackson," The man who took the di Angela said. His accent mangled the J in my last name. "I know who you are."

A dark silhouette now moved toward us. He stepped into the dim light. He still looked human, but his face was ghoulish. He had perfect white teeth and his brown/blue eyes reflected the light of my sword.

"Thank you for coming out of the gym," he said. "I hate middle school dances." WHIIIISH! A second projectile shot from somewhere behind Dr. Thorn. He didn't appear to move. It was as if someone invisible were standing behind him, throwing knives. Next to me, Bianca yelped. The second thorn impaled itself in the stone wall, half an inch from her face.

"All three of you will come with me," Dr. Thorn said. "Quietly. Obediently. If you make a single noise, if you call out for help or try to fight, I will show you just how accurately I can throw."

"Just go dickhead." I made a motion that said get on with it. I knew I could beat him one on one, but just didn't want to risk Bianca and Nico getting hurt.

I didn't know what kind of monster the man was, but he was fast. He herded us outside and into the woods. We took a snowy path dimly lit by old-fashioned lamplights.. The wind blowing at my exposed arm was so cold that I felt like a Percysicle.

"There is a clearing ahead," He said. "We will summon your ride."

"What ride," Bianca demanded. "Where are you taking us?"

"Silence, you insufferable girl!"

"Don't talk to my sister that way.'" Nico said. His voice quivered, but I was impressed that he had the guts to say anything at all.

The dude made a growling sound that definitely wasn't human. I kept walking and pretended that I was being a good little captive, no matter how much it hurt my pride. Grover was doing much worse than me, whimpering at times.

"Halt," Thorn said. The woods had opened up. We'd reached a cliff overlooking the sea. At least, I sensed the sea was down there, hundreds of feet below. I could hear the waves churning and I could smell the cold salty froth. But all I could see was mist and darkness. He pushed us toward the edge.

"What is he?" she whispered. "How do we fight him?"

"I have a plan." I whispered in their ears.

"I'm scared," Nico mumbled. He was fiddling with something—a little metal toy soldier of some kind.

"Stop talking!" Dr. Thorn said. "Face me!"

"You know you're really that smart." I said to the monster.

"Why is that so?" He said looking angry.

"Because you left me, Percy Jackson, a child of seas near a body of water." Water came up from the sea and formed an ice dome around Grover, the di Angelo kids, and me.

"You dare defy me Percy Jackson?" Missiles were projected through the air as they made a whistle sound. They bounced uselessly of the dome.

"Yes, I do dare." I said coming out the protection of the ice. The missiles came at a much faster rate, but it was no match for my speed and my ability to deflect them effortlessly with my swords. I approached him slowly while still dodging and blocking. Pretty soon I was 10ft away.

Being so close I saw how he was launching his missiles. He had a tail. A leathery, scorpionlike tail that bristled with spikes at the tip.

He roared and began to change. He grew larger until he was in his true form. His face still human, but his body that of a huge lion. His leathery, spiky tail whipped deadly thorns in all directions.

' _A manticore.'_ I thought.

"Who are you people?" I heard Bianca di Angelo question Grover from behind me. "And what is that?"

"A manticore?" Nico gasped. "He's got three thousand attack power and plus five to saving throws!" I didn't know what he was talking about with the attack power and saving throws.

"Yield!" the monster roared.

"Do I look like a bitch to you?" I said when he just told me to flat out quit and admit that he was better than I was. I stook a stab at his chest **,** but then there was a thunderous noise and a blaze of light from behind us.

A helicopter appeared out of the mist, hovering just beyond the cliffs. It was a sleek black military-style gunship, with attachments on the sides that looked like laser-guided rockets. The helicopter had to be manned by mortals,

' _Could mortals be working with a monster?'_ The searchlights blinded me. I felt a sharp pain my my left arm.

' _The bastard must've hit me with one of missiles.'_ I went back to dodging and blocking, but my movements were much slower and organised than before.

' _Poison_.' I guessed somewhat dizzily. Two more missiles hd slipped past my defense where one hit my and the shin and the other bounced harmlessly off my Nemean lion tank top.

Then I heard a clear, piercing sound: the call of a hunting horn blowing in the woods. The manticore froze. For a moment, no one moved. There was only the swirl of snow and wind and the chopping of the helicopter blades.

"No," Dr. Thorn said. "It cannot be—" His sentence was cut short when something shot past me like a streak of moonlight. A glowing silver arrow sprouted from Dr. Thorn's shoulder. He staggered backward, wailing in agony.

"Curse you!" The manticore cried. He unleashed his spikes, dozens of them at once, into the woods where the arrow had come from, but just as fast, silvery arrows shot back in reply. It almost looked like the arrows had intercepted the thorns in midair and sliced them in two, but my eyes must've been playing tricks on me. The skill the arrows shot at the manticore rivaled mine.

The manticore pulled the arrow out of his shoulder with a howl of pain. His breathing was heavy. Then the archers came from the woods. They were girls, about 30 of them. The youngest was maybe seven. The oldest, about fifteen. They wore silvery ski parkas and jeans, and they were all armed with bows. They advanced on the manticore with determined expressions.

' _Hunters_.' I thought.

One of the older archers stepped forward with her bow drawn. She was tall and graceful with coppery colored skin. Unlike the other girls, she had a silver circlet braided into the top of her long dark hair, so she looked like some kind of Persian princess.

"Permission to kill, my lady?" I couldn't tell who she was talking to, because she kept her eyes on the manticore. I guessed it was Artemis. The monster wailed.

"This is not fair! Direct interference! It is against the Ancient Laws."

"Not so," another girl who I recognized as Artemis said. "The hunting of all wild beasts is within my sphere. And you, foul creature, are a wild beast." Artemis looked at the older girl with the circlet.

"Zoe, permission granted." The manticore growled, but he turned his attack to me was 3 other thorns pierced my arms. I tried dodging and or blocking them but the poison that had entered my bloodstream had a near drunk effect.

Using what left of my energy, I made more water come from the sea behind me. I left the water drop on my was I was immediately filled with adrenaline, although the pain didn't go away.

' _Strange.'_ I thought but couldn't dwell on it was I started my attack on the monster. Moving at the same speed was before, I decimated him. I still felt the pain, but was quick to get over it. I sliced, stabbed, blocked, dodged, and on occasion jumped.

Out the corner of my eye I saw the hunters just stand there watching unsure of what to do next. It was clear the manticore was no match for me after a while of fighting. The manticore then turned around and shot a volley of thorns at the hunters.

I teleported in front of them and tried deflecting them all but five had slipped past my defense. Two of them had hit me in my right arm and another one hit me in my other arm. The last two hit along my left leg, with one getting dangerously close to my groin area. I screamed out in pain falling to my knees.

The pain was unbearable was I still hadn't gotten past the pain of the previous missiles. I saw the manticore grab hold of a blonde through my blurred vision. He then jumped over the cliff and into the darkness. I saw the look of shock in the blonde grey eyes and then I realized who it was.

"ANNABETH!" I yelled after her trying to get to my feet but fell down due to the mind throbbing poison that ran through my blood.

I tried making it my knees, but our enemies weren't done with us. There was a snap-snapsnap from the helicopter—the sound of gunfire. I hit with a few bullets increasing my already unbearable pain.

Most of the Hunters scattered as tiny holes appeared in the snow at their feet, but the girl I recognized as Artemis just looked up calmly at the helicopter.

"Mortals," she announced, "are not allowed to witness my hunt." She thrust out her hand and the black metal dissolved into a flock of ravens, which scattered into the night. This time I managed to make it to my feet, before I was roughly pinned back down to the ground by 3 or 4 hunters.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING," I tried struggling but it was useless was I was in no shape to go after her. "I CAN SAVE HER." I am very stubborn. Artemis turned towards me.

"I'm sorry, Percy Jackson, but Annabeth is beyond help." I struggled again, but a couple of the girls held me down.

"You are in no condition to be hurling yourself off cliffs," She said.

"Water… Heal...Me...I'll b-b-be f-f-f-f-f-i-i-i-ne…" I managed through strangled gasps.

"Despite your water healing powers, it wouldn't be wise to chase after her." She looked at me sincerely, which was new.

"I don't care about being wise. I care about her." The look of sadness in her eyes increased.

"Percy…" I heard a familiar voice from beside Artemis.

"Thalia." I whispered. The girls got off me after making sure I wouldn't jump off the cliff.

"Hey kelp head." She kneeled beside me.

"Jeez, Pinecone face. Almost a whole half year and you couldn't come up with a better name." I tried sitting up but her gentle hand pushed my chest back on the snow.

"Don't move, this will hurt a lot." She pulled a thorn out my arm which was followed by a grunt. She pulled the other 7 out of my body.

"Damn it Percy." She looked at my wounds. "How do you manage to do shit like this."

"I don't know. Shit happens." I said remembering the time my mother and I watched Forrest Gump.

"Thalia, I'm fine." I said still a bit dazed.

"Percy, I don't even know how you're conscious. If a normal demigod got hit the a single thorn, they would passed out minutes afterwards. You've been hit 8. Don't even get me started with how many bullet holes you have." A tear escaped her eye.

"Relax sparky, I'm fine. I promise." I wiped her cheek with my thumb.

"Sparky. Really, I thought you could do better than that." She helped me up my feet.

I looked around surveying the area when I saw Grover.. He gasped, then knelt hastily in the snow and started yammering, "Thank you, Lady Artemis! You're so… you're so… Wow!"

"Whoa," Bianca di Angelo said. "Hold up. Time out." Everybody looked at her. She pointed her finger at all of us in turn, like she was trying to connect the dots.

"Who… who are you people?" Artemis's expression softened.

"It might be a better question, my dear girl, to ask who are you!Who are your parents?" Bianca glanced nervously at her brother, who was still staring in awe at Artemis. "

Our parents are dead," Bianca said. "We're orphans. There's a bank trust that pays for our school, but…" She faltered. I guess she could tell from our faces that we didn't believe her.

"What?" she demanded. "I'm telling the truth."

"You are a half-blood," Zoe Nightshade said. Her accent was hard to place. It sounded old-fashioned, like she was reading from a really old book. "One of thy parents was mortal. The other was an Olympian."

"An Olympian… athlete?"

"No," Zoe said.

"One of the gods."

"Cool!" said Nico.

"No!" Bianca's voice quavered. "This is not cool!" Nico danced around like he needed to use the restroom.

"Does Zeus really have lightning bolts that do six hundred damage? Does he get extra movement points for—"

"Nico, shut up!" Bianca put her hands to her face. "This is not your stupid Mythomagic game, okay? There are no gods!" As anxious as I felt about Annabeth, all I wanted to do was search for her. I couldn't help feeling sorry for the di Angelos. I remembered what it was like for me when I first learned I was a demigod. Thalia eyes

"Bianca, I know it's hard to believe. But the gods are still around. Trust me. They're immortal. And whenever they have kids with regular humans, kids like us, well… Our lives are dangerous."

"Dangerous," Bianca said, "like the girl who the monster took." Thalia turned away. Even Artemis looked pained.

"Do not despair for Annabeth," the goddess said. "She was a brave maiden. If she can be found, I shall find her."

"Lady Artemis." I said with a pleading look in my eyes. I knew she hated men, but I really wanted to find Annabeth. I couldn't stay at Camp Half-Blood and let Artemis go off finding Annabeth, not knowing if she was alive or not.

"Very well, Perseus. I will accompany you on your quest to find her." She said.

"I'm going as well." Thalia said from behind me.

"Thyself will attend this quest as well, milady." Zoe said.

"It is settled. Perseus, Zoe, Thalia, and I will go on to find Annabeth," She said as more hunters seemed like they wanted to protest.

"Oo!" Nico raised his hand. "What about Dr. Thorn? That was awesome how you fought him the swords! Is he dead?" He looked at me.

"He was a manticore," Artemis said. "Hopefully he is destroyed for now, but monsters never truly die. They re-form over and over again, and they must be hunted whenever they reappear."

"Or they'll hunt us," Thalia said. Bianca di Angelo shivered.

"That explains… Nico, you remember last summer, those guys who tried to attack us in the alley in DC?"

"And that bus driver," Nico said. "The one with the ram's horns. I told you that was real."

"That's why Grover has been watching you," I said. "To keep you safe, if you turned out to be half-bloods."

"Grover?" Bianca stared at him. "You're a demigod?"

"Well, a satyr, actually." He kicked off his shoes and displayed his goat hooves. I thought Bianca was going to faint right there.

"Grover, put your shoes back on," I said. "You're freaking her out."

"Hey, my hooves are clean!"

"Bianca," I said, "We came here to help you. You and Nico need training to survive. The manticore won't be the last monster you meet. You need to go to camp."

"Camp?" she asked.

"Camp Half-Blood," I said. "It's where half-bloods learn to survive and stuff. I actually instruct others in the art of combat there."

"You're an instructor? I thought you were a demigod." She asked looking confused.

"I am." I said mysteriously.

"Well how did that happen?"

"I'm awesome," Thalia smacked me on the back of my head. "It's a long story.'

"Sweet, let's go!" said Nico.

"Wait," Bianca shook her head. "I don't—"

"Everything will be alright." I assured her.

 **Scene Change**

The Hunters set up their camping site in a matter of minutes. Seven large tents, all of silver silk, curved in a crescent around one side of a bonfire. One of the girls blew a silver dog whistle, and a dozen white wolves appeared out of the woods. They began circling the camp like guard dogs. The Hunters walked among them and fed them treats, completely unafraid. Z

Falcons watched us from the trees, their eyes flashing in the firelight, and I got the feeling they were on guard duty, too. Even the weather seemed to bend to the goddess's will. The air was still cold, but the wind died down and the snow stopped falling, so it was almost pleasant sitting by the fire.

"It's going to be okay Percy." Thalia took my hand was I stared at the fire.

"I can't help but worry about her." He said looking in her eyes.

"There was nothing you could have done Perseus. You can't save everyone. There are times in life where someone can't be saved no matter what you do."

"And it kills me," I said angrily. "To have all these power, to be so skilled, and not be able to save everyone." I stared at the fire remembering how my mother died.

"It'll be okay." She squeezed my hand.

"So, how's life going with the hunters?" I wanted a change of topic.

"Oh them. They are great people. They are like the sisters I never had. It's so invigorating being able to fight monsters nearly everyday." Her eyes gleamed with happiness. I was happy to see her so happy.

"You should go to them. I don't think they take it so well with you being so close to a boy." I said nodding where some hunters were giving me a look of disgust.

"Will you be okay?" She said.

"Yeah, I'll just need to clear my head." I nodded. She left and so I walked over to the edge of the cliff and sat down. I stared at where I saw the manticore take Annabeth. After a few minutes, I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Thalia, I said I'm fine." I turned my head and saw that it as not Thalia.

"Do you mind if I sit here?" A 12 year old, auburn haired, silver eyed goddess asked.

A/N: Well this was a pretty long chapter. It's my longest one so far at 7,000 words. I normally try to make my chapter around 5,000 words. I hoped you guys like it. The following sentence will make this chapter hit 7,000 words. Nitwit Blubber Oddment Tweak.


	5. Chapter 5

Percy Jackson and the Lone Hunter

Chapter Five

Age 14

By: Khande

Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson series. Rick Riordan does.

A/N: Constructive Criticism Appreciated. If you have any suggestions leave a review.

Point of View: Percy Jackson

" _You should go to them. I don't think they take it so well with you being so close to a boy." I said nodding where some hunters were giving me a look of disgust._

" _Will you be okay?" She said._

" _Yeah, I'll just need to clear my head." I nodded. She left and so I walked over to the edge of the cliff and sat down. I stared at where I saw the manticore take Annabeth. After a few minutes, I felt a hand on my shoulder._

" _Thalia, I said I'm fine." I turned my head and saw that it as not Thalia._

" _Do you mind if I sit here?" A 12 year old, auburn haired, silver eyed goddess asked._

It seemed like a million questions rung throughout my head when the man hating goddess asked me to sit next to me, a man.

"No, not at all." My curiosity was quenched by my depression.

"You really do care about them?" She sat down a few inches away from me.

"Pardon?" I asked confused about her question.

"Thalia and Annabeth." She clarified looking at the star spangled sky. "I've never seen any relationship was close was close as you and Thalia.

"I would risk my life for their wellbeing," I said honestly.

"I never did thank you for saving me year agos back at 'The Palace'." I looked at her.

"You don't have to. I acted like a jerk to you." She looked at me.

"I as the one who pushed you away." She said.

"You had good reason. You woke up in a strange place with a male preteen watching you after being unconscious for a while." I pointed out.

"Percy, what makes you so different," She started. "From other men."

"I never really told anyone this," I started. "When I was young, my mother had married this total ass. He was the worst step-father anyone could hope for. He was a total cunt to my mom." I heard her give a little laugh at his vulgar language.

"I didn't know why my mom stayed with him. He the laziest, dumbest, and rudest person you could've met. And he married my mom. My mom as literally the best anyone could ever meet. She as the exact opposite of that pig." I said bitterly. "She had dreams to be a writer but it all went crashing down when she had to use her college money to take care of her uncle. Her parents had died in a plane crash when she as a young girl. Her uncle as the only family she had left. So she took care of him in a heartbeat. Pretty soon her uncle died, and she was left penniless."

"So she had gotten a job that she hated and it only worsened once she found out she was pregnant with me. My birth only added to her burden. So she had married Gabe to keep us in a house. I actually called him Smelly Gabe because of how bad he smelled. One day I had came home from school. When I was about 10. He asked me to give him money. I refused. So he pushed me against the wall. He was about to beat me up when my mother showed up. She begged him to stop, but he didn't. When she didn't move out his way, he slapped her. She fell to the ground next to me. Something just snapped when I saw the big handprint on her face."

"Water had erupted from everywhere in the apartment. Ice had formed around my fist was I beat the living shit out of him. I wanted him to die. A slow and painful death for what he did to my mom. Not only for the slap, but for the decade of abuse we suffered under his hands. But my mom told me to stop. I wanted to keep going but I did what she asked of me. So we had ran away to a beach house along the tip of Long Island. We spent two months together and it as the best two months of my life. But the Minotaur came. He killed my mom."

'Sorry." I apologized putting my head in my hands. I felt Artemis's arm wrap itself around my shoulders.

"If only I as stronger. I could've prevented her death. I now that Annabeth was taken because I hadn't killed the manticore fast enough. It feels like my mother all over again. If she dies. It would be all my fault."

"Percy, it's not your fault." Artemis tried to assure him.

"Thalia, and Annabeth are the only people I have in this world that keeps me sane. My brother left months ago to who knows where. Annabeth might be dead right now and I would be the biggest failure in the world."

"Perseus, none of this as you're fault. You did the best you can." She tried patting his shoulder.

"But my best wasn't good enough. I'm not good enough."

 **Point of View Change: Artemis**

A surge of emotions was flowing through her chest at this very moment. She had pushed down her disgust at being so close to a male because he was genuinely hurting.

"Thank you." He said after a while pulling away from her embrace. He unsheathed on his swords.

"I made this with the Minotaur's horns." He gave the sword to me as he drew another one from his back. I ran my fingers across the blade.

"Percy." I said as my fingers met his named carved into the blade.

"This one says Jackson," He showed me his last name engraved on the sword. "I think it's time for you to return to your hunters." He stood up sheathing both swords back into their scabbards.

"Very well." I got up started walking away back where the hunters had set up their camp. I looked back and saw that Percy was still looking out over the cliff. I felt something, an emotion, flutter in her stomach. Not knowing which emotion, I continued walking towards the camp.

 **Scene Change (Tomorrow Morning)**

 **Point of View: Percy Jackson**

After last night, I had decided to make a classic treehouse. Nothing fancy. Just made it with spare branches and tree bark. It was a miracle I could do that in under an hour.

"PERCY!" I heard Thalia's voice as I woke up.

"PERCY." She yelled again.

"What up Sparky?" I said sticking my head out the house.

"Oh, there you are." She said turning her head to face my tree.

"Come on up." I gestured for to come up.

"How did you get up there?" She asked.

"I climbed the tree." She looked nervously at the tree. I was up at least 25ft in the air.

"Do you want a piggy back ride?" I asked knowing she had a fear of heights.

"Yes please." She nodded her head like a 6 year old whose mom just asked them if they wanted ice cream. I jumped down and let her jump on my back and wrap her arms around my neck. She then wrapped her legs around my waist before saying,

"Climb ahead kelp head." She kicked my side as if I was a horse. So I did, it wasn't that hard as Thalia wasn't heavy at all. When we got to the top, she got off.

'Don't worry, I made it. It's completely safe." I assured her as she still looked worried.

"How did you make this?" She asked looking around.

"With my mind." She lightly punched my shoulder.

"Lady Artemis is looking for us." She said after a while.

"Alright let's go." She me looked at for a second before I realized what she wanted. I turned around and let her jump on my back.

"Onwards kelp head." She kicked my side again. Deciding to get even, I took off a run and jumped out the house. I bent my knees to prepare for the landing. I heard Thalia's ear deafening shriek from behind me as I laughed. I hit the ground and a second later, I was looking at the face of angry demigod.

"PERSEUS JACKSON! DON'T EVER DO THAT AGAIN!" I felt a bolt of lightning strike me in the chest but due to my tank top, it didn't hurt.

"Do what?" I said innocently.

"UHHH!" She cried out.

"Keep it down Sparky, you might wake the others. How so inconsiderate of you." Some hunters were looking at the two already woke when before Thalia and Percy jumped out the tree. A lightning bolt narrowly missed my head.

"Are you guys boyfriend and girlfriend." I heard a voice ask from behind me. I turned around and saw that it was Nico. He was looking at some cards he had in his hands.

"What! No, no, no,no, no. We are only good friends. Besides, I'm not in the mood to date." I explained.

"And I don't date." Thalia said as some hunters nodded their heads in agreement.

Artemis closed her eyes. "Dawn is approaching. Phoebe, break camp. You must get to Long Island quickly and safely. I shall summon a ride from my brother." Said girl didn't look real happy about this idea.

Artemis assured us that dawn was coming, but you could've fooled me. It was colder and darker and snowier than ever. Up on the hill, Westover Hall's windows were completely lightless. I wondered if the teachers had even noticed the di Angelos and Dr. Thorn were missing yet.

The Hunters broke camp as quickly as they'd set it up. Artemis stared into the east like she was expecting something. Bianca sat off to one side, talking with Nico. Finally the sky began to lighten. Artemis muttered,

"About time. He's so lazy during the winter." There was a sudden burst of light on the horizon. A blast of warmth.

"Don't look," Artemis advised. "Not until he parks." I averted my eyes, and saw that the other kids were doing the same. The light and warmth intensified and then suddenly the light died. I looked. A red convertible Maserati Spyder. Then I realized it was glowing because the metal was hot.

The snow had melted around the Maserati in a perfect circle, which explained why I was now standing on green grass and my boots were wet. The driver got out, smiling. He looked about seventeen or eighteen, and for a second, I had the uneasy feeling it was Luke.

This guy had the same sandy hair and outdoorsy good looks. But it wasn't Luke. This guy was taller, with no scar on his face like Luke's. His smile was brighter and more playful. The Maserati driver wore jeans and loafers and a sleeveless T-shirt.

"Little sister!" Apollo called. If his teeth were any whiter he could've blinded us without the sun car. "What's up? You never call. You never write. I was getting worried!" Artemis sighed.

"I'm fine, Apollo. And I am not your little sister."

"Hey, I was born first."

"We're twins! How many millennia do we have to argue?"

"So what's up?" he interrupted. "Got the girls with you, I see. You all need some tips on archery?" Artemis gritted her teeth.

"I need a favor. I have some business to take care of with a couple of people. I need you to take my companions to Camp Half-Blood."

"Ahh Percy, what's up bro haven't seen you since the last time you came to Olympus." He extended his hand which I shook.

"Yeah, I don't get invited that to Olympus very often." He laughed.

"I hear ya. My sister only sees me like once every century." I heard a groan.

"Just take them Apollo," Artemis rubbed the temples of her head as if she had gotten a migraine. "And if as so much bat a single eye in their direction, then I'll castrate you faster than you can blink." She held a dagger in a threatening way. 

' _Damn, that's harsh.'_ I thought. 5 minutes later, everyone was out of sight leaving just Artemis, Zoe, Thalia, and me.

"So what shall be ye first step." Zoe said in her old accent.

"I could try teleporting to her." I offered.

"Unfortunately, teleporting to her location will end up futile. Wherever she is, there's some secure boundaries that won't allow teleportation. I've tried it multiple times." Artemis said. Naturally I still tried, but I went no where.

"What do we do?" Thalia asked.

"What if we ask Nereus, the Old Man of the Sea?" I suggested shrugging. "We could capture him, and ask him where Annabeth is?

"Who's Nereus?" Thalia asked.

"Nereus is a sea-deity, a son of Gaea and Pontus. Commonly referred to as the Old Man of the Sea, he is said to know everything. If captured, he will allow his captor to ask him one question." Artemis explained.

"Where thou Nereus resides?" Zoe asked.

"Somewhere on the docks of the San Francisco Bay." I said.

"That could anywhere within San Francisco." She pointed out.

"Relax bolt fingers if anyone can hunt a sea deity, it would be me." I puffed out my chest with mock arrogance.

"Oh yeah fish breath." She poked my chest playfully.

"Yeah Sparky."

"Is that so kelp head?"

"Pinecone face."

"Seaweed brains."

"Thunder dolt." I laughed when I saw her face, as she tried to think of a nickname.

"Damn it Percy." She punched me in my shoulder, and this time not lightly.

"What are thou means of transportation?" Zoe asked Artemis.

"I'll flash Zoe to the entrance of the Golden Gate bridge located within San Francisco. You'll take Thalia." She placed a hand on Zoe's shoulder and they disappeared in a flash. I held my hand so she could take, but she looked at me expectantly.

"Fine." I mumbled and let her jump on my back for the third time of the day.

"Teleport ahead." She kicked my side again for the third time of the day. Deciding to do something wild, I teleported on top of the Golden State Bridge.

"You like the view Thunder dolt?" I asked seeing Artemis and Zoe looking for us.

"PERCY JACKSON! PUT ME ON THE GROUND RIGHT NOW!" She shrieked.

"If you want." I leaned forward and fell. As we fell 740+ ft, all I could hear was Thalia's screaming. I enjoyed the wind whip past my face. It was a real rush. Just when we were about to hit the ground, I teleported in a standing position in front of Artemis and Zoe. Thalia was still screaming as I my feet hit the ground. I turned my head around and saw that her eyes were still closed.

"Yo pinecone face, we're on the ground." I said laughing at her face.

"I TOLD YOU, DON'T EVER DO THAT AGAIN! AND WHAT DO YOU? YOU FUCKING JUMP FROM THE FUCKING GOLDEN GATE BRIDGE." She slid off my back and started hitting me.

"Ooww," I laughed. "I thought it was a fun trip." After a few moments she finally stopped hitting me and just settled for glaring at me.

"What happened?" Artemis asked looking highly amused the two.

"We went skydiving," I laughed as I dodged a bolt of lightning. "As you can see from Thalia's face, it was really fun." Thalia just glared at me with her hair looking like a mess.

"Whatever, let's just find Nereus." Thalia said with her arms folded. I tried sensing a godly presence from where we stood but it wasn't strong enough. It did sense one demigod but the aura was so weak that I didn't take notice.

' _Maybe if I use the water to enhance my senses.'_ I looked at the body of water underneath our feet.

"I'm going to try something." I jumped in the water beneath me. I broke the surface of the water after a few seconds. I plunged several feet under before I swam to the surface.

I felt a rush of adrenaline surge through my body when my head bobbed out the water. So I tried sensing the presence again. This time it spread across the whole city. I didn't know his exact location but I knew how to get to the sea deity. So I teleported back in front of them.

"Follow me." I told them as I started following the route of Nereus.

 **Scene Change**

"There he is." At the end of the pier was a guy who looked about a million years old was passed out in a patch of sunlight. He wore pajamas and a fuzzy bathrobe that probably used to be white. He was fat, with a white beard that had turned yellow, kind of like Santa Claus, if Santa had been rolled out of bed and dragged through a landfill.

"So get him." Thalia ushered me. So I went on. I headed toward the dock. I kept walking. A couple of grimy dudes with plastic grocery bags for hats checked me out as I came close.

"Beat it, kid!" one of them muttered. They smelled pretty bad, but just regular old bad. Nothing unusual.

"Shut up dickhead." I said back. He made a move to attack but I drew my sword. He sat back down.

As I got closer, I noticed his smell. He smelled bad, all right, but ocean bad. Like hot seaweed and dead fish and brine. If the ocean had an ugly side, this guy was it.

Nereus opened one eye suspiciously. I could feel him staring at my sword, but I didn't look. Santa Claus went back to sleep. I knew this was going to look strange. I didn't know how the other homeless people would react. But I jumped him.

"Ahhhhhl" he screamed. I grabbed him but he slipped out of my grasp. It was as if he'd never been asleep at all. He certainly didn't act like a weak old man.

"That's a crime!" one of the other homeless guys yelled.

"Kid assaulting an old man like that!" He was making a break for it. Before he could, I regained my senses and tackled him from behind.

"I don't have any money!" He tried to get up and run, but I locked my arms around his chest. His rotten fish smell was awful, but I held on.

"I don't want money," I said as he fought. "I'm a half-blood! I want information.'" That just made him struggle harder.

"Heroes! Why do you always pick on me?"

"Because you know everything!" He growled and tried to shake me off his back. It was like holding onto a roller coaster. He thrashed around, making it impossible for me to keep on my feet, but I gritted my teeth and squeezed tighter. We staggered toward the edge of the pier and I got an idea.

"Oh, shit!" I said. "Not the water!" The plan worked. Immediately, Nereus yelled in triumph and jumped off the edge. Together, we plunged into San Francisco Bay. He must've been surprised when I tightened my grip, the ocean filling me with extra strength. But Nereus had a few tricks left, too.

He changed shape until I was holding a sleek black seal. I've heard people make jokes about trying to hold a greased pig, but I'm telling you, holding on to a seal in the water is harder. Nereus plunged straight down, wriggling and thrashing and spiraling through the dark water.

If I hadn't been Poseidon's son, there's no way I could've stayed with him. Nereus spun and expanded. Turning into a killer whale, but I grabbed his dorsal fin as he burst out of the water.A whole bunch of tourists went, "Whoa!" I managed to flip my middle finger at the crowd.

Nereus plunged into the water and turned into a slimy eel. I started to tie him into a knot until he realized what was going on and changed back to human form.

"Why won't you drown?" he wailed, pummeling me with his fists.

"I'm a son of Poseidon." I said.

"Curse that upstart! I was here first!" Finally he collapsed on the edge of the boat dock. Above us was one of those tourist piers lined with shops, like a mall on water. Nereus was heaving and gasping. I was feeling great. I could've gone on all day, but I didn't tell him that. I wanted him to feel like he'd put up a good fight. Artemis, Zoe, and Thalia ran down the steps from the pier.

"You got him!" Zoe said.

"The amount of confidence in you voice really motivates me to do better." I said sarcastically. Nereus moaned.

"Oh, wonderful. An audience for my humiliation! The normal deal, I suppose? You'll let me go if I answer your question?"

"Where is the exact location of Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena and huntress of Artemis?" I asked letting go of him.

"The girls is currently located on Mount Tamalpais in San Francisco. But be warned child of the sea, she is bearing the curse of the titan." He then dived into the sea.

"Curse of the titan. What does that mean?" Thalia asked confused.

"My father…" Zoe trailed off. I had a hunch of who her father was.

"Atlas…" I said.

"How'd did you know?" She asked angrily.

"That's not important," I said. "Annabeth is holding the sky!"

"You already know the drill kelp head," She said. "This time, no funny business." She wagged a finger at me.

"Never dream of it." She jumped on my back. "I'm teleporting to the start of the mountain" And then we were gone.

 **Scene Change**

We let Zoe lead us as she was most familiar with these areas. Pretty soon I was still on the side of the mountain, but the road was dirt. The grass was thicker. The sunset made a blood red slash across the sea. The summit of the mountain seemed closer now, swirling with storm clouds and raw power.

There was only one path to the top, directly in front of us. And it led through a lush meadow of shadows and flowers: the garden of twilight, just like I'd seen in my dream. If it hadn't been for the enormous dragon, the garden would've been the most beautiful place I'd ever seen. The grass shimmered with silvery evening light, and the flowers were such brilliant colors they almost glowed in the dark.

Stepping stones of polished black marble led around either side of a five-story-tall apple tree, every bough glittering with golden apples, and I don't mean yellow golden apples like in the grocery store. I mean real golden apples. I can't describe why they were so appealing, but as soon as I smelled their fragrance, I knew that one bite would be the most delicious thing I'd ever tasted.

"The apples of immortality," Thalia said. "Hera's wedding gift from Zeus." I wanted to step right up and pluck one, except for the dragon coiled around the tree. Now, I don't know what you think of when I say dragon. Whatever it is, it's not scary enough.

The serpent's body was as thick as a booster rocket, glinting with coppery scales. He had more heads than I could count, as if a hundred deadly pythons had been fused together. He appeared to be asleep. The heads lay curled in a big spaghetti-like mound on the grass, all the eyes closed.

Then the shadows in front of us began to move. There was a beautiful, eerie singing, like voices from the bottom of a well. I reached for my sword, but Zoe stopped my hand. Four figures shimmered into existence, four young women who looked very much like Zoe.

They all wore white Greek chitons. Their skin was like caramel. Silky black hair tumbled loose around their shoulders. It was strange, but I'd never realized how beautiful Zoe was until I saw her siblings, the Hesperides. They looked just like Zoe, gorgeous, and probably very dangerous.

"Sisters." Zoe said.

"We do not see any sister," One of the girls said coldly. "We see a half-blood, two hunters, and a goddess. Three of whom shall soon die."

"No one's going to die." I stepped forward. The girls studied me. They had eyes like volcanic rock, glassy and completely black.

"Perseus Jackson." one of them said.

"Yes." mused another. "I do not see why he is a threat."

"Who said I was a threat?" The first Hesperid glanced behind her, toward the top of the mountain.

"Go back."

"Not without Annabeth," Thalia said.

"We must approach the mountain." Zoe said.

"You know he will kill thee," the girl said. "You are no match for him."

"Let us pass." The girl shook her head.

"You have no rights here anymore. We have only to raise our voices and Ladon will wake."

"He will not hurt me," Zoe said.

"No? And what about thy so-called friends?" Then Zoe did the last thing I expected. She shouted,

"Ladon! Wake!" The dragon stirred, glittering like a mountain of pennies. The Hesperides yelped and scattered. The lead girl said to Zoe,

"Are you mad?" "You never had any courage, sister," Zoe said. "That is thy problem." The dragon Ladon was writhing now, a hundred heads whipping around, tongues flickering and tasting the air. Zoe took a step forward, her arms raised.

"Zoe, don't," Thalia said. "You're not a Hesperid anymore. He'll kill you." "Ladon is trained to protect the tree," Zoe said.

"Skirt around the edges of the garden. Go up the mountain. As long as I am a bigger threat, he should ignore thee."

"I can take it." I said. "You won't have to get near it.

"No, you will only kill thyself. This is the only way," she said. "Even the four of us together cannot fight him." Ladon opened his mouths. The sound of a hundred heads hissing at once sent a shiver down my back, and that was before his breath hit me.

The smell was like acid. It made my eyes burn, my skin crawl, and my hair stand on end. I remembered the time a rat had died inside our apartment wall in New York in the middle of the summer. This stench was like that, except a hundred times stronger, and mixed with the smell of chewed eucalyptus.

I wanted to draw my sword. But then I remembered Zoe. I decided to trust Zoe's judgment. Artemis and Thalia went left. I went right. Zoe walked straight toward the monster.

"It's me, my little dragon," Zoe said. "Zoe has come back." Ladon shifted forward, then back. Some of the mouths closed. Some kept hissing. Dragon confusion. Meanwhile, the Hesperides shimmered and turned into shadows. The voice of the eldest whispered,

"Fool."

"I used to feed thee by hand," Zoe continued, speaking in a soothing voice as she  
stepped toward the golden tree. "Do you still like lamb's meat?" The dragon's eyes glinted. 

Thalia, Artemis, and I were about halfway around the garden. Ahead, I could see a single rocky trail leading up to the black peak of the mountain. The storm swirled above it, spinning on the summit like it was the axis for the whole world. We'd almost made it out of the meadow when something went wrong.

I felt the dragon's mood shift. Maybe Zoe got too close. Maybe the dragon realized he was hungry. Whatever the reason, he lunged at Zoe. I teleported in front of her and formed an X with my swords, successfully blocking one of his many, many heads.

"RUN!" I cut three heads off at once. I heard the sound of footsteps just before I cut off four more heads and teleported away.

"Why did thou do that?" Zoe asked me.

"I didn't want to see you get hurt." I said simply walking on.

We ran up the mountain as the Hesperides resumed their song in the shadows behind us. The music didn't sound so beautiful to me now, more like the sound track for a funeral. At the top of mountain were ruins, blocks of black granite and marble as big as houses. Broken columns. Statues of bronze that looked as though they'd been half melted.

"The ruins of Mount Othrys," Thalia whispered in awe.

"Yes," Zoe said. "It was not here before. This is bad."

We had reached the summit. A few yards ahead of us, gray clouds swirled in a heavy vortex, making a funnel cloud that almost touched the mountaintop, but instead rested on the shoulders of a thirteen-year-old girl with auburn hair and a tattered silvery dress: Annabeth, her legs bound to the rock with celestial bronze chains. I felt the blood in my veins boil at the sight. A booming voice spoke behind us,

"Ah, how touching." We turned. The General was standing there in his brown silk suit. At his side were Ethan Nakamura and half a dozen dracaenae bearing the golden sarcophagus of Kronos.

"Ethan," Thalia snarled. "Let her go." His smile was weak and pale. He looked even worse than when Annabeth and Alex went on that quest a few years back.

"That is the General's decision, Thalia. But it's good to see you again." Thalia spat at him. The Atlas chuckled.

"So much for old friends. And you, Zoe. It's been a long time. How is my little traitor? I will enjoy killing you."

"Shut the fuck up." I looked him in the eye.

"Do not respond," Artemis groaned. "Do not challenge him."

"The arrogance of heroes these days oversees their skill."

"It's not arrogance, just confidence." I spun my swords in hand and glared at him darkly.

"You dare challenge me. I am Atlas, the general of the Titans and terror of the gods. I will kill you presently, as soon as I deal with this wretched girl."

"You're not going to hurt shit." I said. "I won't let you." The General sneered.

"You have no right to interfere, little hero. This is a family matter."

"Grow a pair and just fight me."

"Have the gods taught you nothing? An immortal does not fight a mere mortal directly. It is beneath our dignity. I will have Ethan crush you instead."

"So you're another coward," I said. Atlas's eyes glowed with hatred. With difficulty, he turned his attention to Thalia.

"As for you, daughter of Zeus, it seems Ethan was wrong about you."

"Yo cunt, you look like horse testicles." There were some chuckles. Zoe smiled a little bit.

"You think you're funny Perseus Jackson?" He looked at me with anger.

"Yes ma'am I sure do."

"I am a male." He roared with anger.

"Are you sure? You talk like a pussy." His charcoal black eyes flashed with a dangerous glint.

"You're really testing my patience demigod."

"Are you sure you're getting angry because of me and not because you're on you period." This was really satisfying.

"I dare you insolent brat to say one more word." He threatened.

"One more word." I knew we needed to take them by surprise. I looked at Thalia, Artemis, and Zoe and nodded.

Thalia went straight for Ethan. The power of her shield was so great that his dragon women bodyguards fled in a panic, dropping the golden coffin and leaving him alone. But despite his sickly appearance, Ethan was still quick with his sword. He snarled like a wild animal and counterattacked. When his sword, Backbiter, met Thalia's shield, a ball of lightning erupted between them, frying the air with yellow tendrils of power.

As for Artemis and Zoe, well they battled every monster that was in the region which was more than 100. I did the only thing I could and attacked the titan. A huge javelin appeared in his hands. His silk suit melted into full Greek battle armor.

"Go on, then!"

"Percy!" Zoe said. "Beware!" I knew she was warning me about how immortals are constrained by ancient rules. But a hero can go anywhere, challenge anyone, as long as he has the nerve. Once I attacked, however, Atlas was free to attack back directly, with all his might. I swung my swords.

 **Scene Change**

It was apparent that we were evenly matched. I had improved in skill much greatly than when I fought Ares. We were trading blow for blow, but I knew I was getting tired and hurt. He was immortal, he could continue for eternity without the threat of dying.

I needed to do something drastically. I looked at Annabeth and gave her a look that said prepare. She nodded her head ever so slightly. I needed to do something to get to lunge at me where I can shift his momentum into taking the weight of the heavens. So I fell down in front of Annabeth.

"You are a skilled adversary, but you are no match for me." He charged at me where I slid out the way and let him run into Annabeth. She let herself be pushed out the way as he took the weight of the sky from her shoulders.

"NO, NO, NO!" He yelled as he shifted the weight on his shoulders. I helped her to her feet as she embraced me in a hug.

"You're safe." I whispered in her ear. This only made her squeeze harder.

"Wait one second." I broke the hug and spat in Atlas's face. He roared with anger. I then returned to the hug with Annabeth. I felt another pair of arms encircle us as we hugged.

"We missed you Wise Girl." I said when the hug ended.

"Yeah bookworm." Annabeth and I stared at her incredulously.

"Come on thunder dolt. Now you're using nicknames that other people have came up with. You're unoriginality astounds me." I ducked my head as a bolt flew over my head.

"Yeah lightning nova." Annabeth laughed weakly.

"Shut up." She muttered.

 **Scene Change**

We went back to Camp Half-Blood. I had to carry Annabeth bridal style as she couldn't walk herself. Since I was carrying Annabeth, Thalia wanted a piggy back ride. Artemis and Zoe were beside themselves with amusement.

When we reached the dining pavilion, we see only the hunters sitting at the Artemis table. They turned and saw one their own being held by a male with another on his back. I let Annabeth down in a nearby seat and Thalia slid off my back as I sat down at the Poseidon table.

After an hour, the hunters were ready to depart from camp. I was thoroughly surprised when Zoe pulled me aside.

"Listen Perseus Jackson. I want to thank thee for saving thy from the dragon and my father." She said sincerely.

"You don't have to thank me." I said.

"I don't have to, I want to." She corrected.

"Thalia told me about how you were banished from the garden of hesperides. I want you to know that if Herakles didn't see how much of a great girl you were, then that makes him a bigger idiot than they tell us." She smiled.

"How 'bout I go up to Olympus and beat his ass sometime. For your honour." I said solemnly.

"Thee doesn't have to." She said.

"Thee doesn't have to, thee wants too." I corrected.

"Thou is unlike any male I have encountered. I want thee to know that I consider him as my friend." To a normal person, this wouldn't have meant much to them. It meant a lot to me though.

"Thank you. I also think of you as my friend." She then did the unexpected and hugged me. I hugged back after a second and she let go. She then went off to join the other hunters. I went off to go say goodbye to Thalia and Annabeth.

Ten minutes later, the hunters were gone.

Ten minutes later, Zoe and Artemis were gone.

Ten minutes later, Thalia and Annabeth were gone.

And ten minutes later, I was alone once more in a place full of people.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Not really that much to say.


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